DUBAI, Feb 10:  Kuwait’s Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Investment Nora Al-Fassam affirmed on Monday that Kuwait has taken serious steps in implementing its development vision (Kuwait 2035), especially achieving financial balance and economic reforms. She told KUNA on the sidelines of the Ninth Arab Fiscal Forum; part of the World Governments Summit 2025 that will kick off Tuesday in Dubai, that participation in this prominent forum is of special importance, as it addresses key issues that concern Arab countries in particular and the world as a whole, especially amid the unstable economic conditions that the world is witnessing and discussing solutions and combining efforts to exert the maximum means of cooperation to reach sustainable financial solutions for our countries.

On her participation in the forum, Al-Fassam said it includes a dialogue session on fiscal policy design options to confront increasing debt pressures with the aim to review the current economic challenges and adopt flexible and balanced financial policies. She pointed out that the forum “will showcase Kuwait’s successful experience in the process of issuing bonds and sovereign debt for the state, which achieved success in 2017 as we entered the international financial markets by issuing bonds worth USD eight billion.” In this regard, Al-Fassam said that given the high credit rating of Kuwait, this issuance received great demand and was covered at a rate of 3.6 times the total value of the issuance itself, and orders now exceeded USD 29 billion, with more than 500 foreign and international investors participating in the issuance, which reflects strong confidence in the creditworthiness of Kuwait and its economic policies. On the public debt, she said it does not exceed 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, which is what countries are committed to, and Kuwait has the lowest debt percentage on a regional level. The World Governments Summit 2025 will kick off Tuesday with the participation of a high-level Kuwaiti delegation, headed by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and will continue until next Thursday. (KUNA):