KUWAIT: Minister of Electricity and Water and Acting Finance Minister Sabeeh Al-Mukhaizeem discussed on Tuesday with a delegation of the International Monetary Fund led by Mission Chief to Kuwait Francisco Parodi non-oil revenues reforms and subsidies, the finance ministry said. The two sides also discussed the issues of selective taxation and public fiscal sustainability, the statement said.
The talks also discussed reforming public subsidies to target sections that need them. Currently, Kuwait subsidizes most public services and all sections of the society benefit from the support. No details were given on the outcome of the meeting. But in its most recent reports on Kuwait’s economy in September, the IMF reiterated its call on Kuwait to boost its non-oil revenues, which currently make up between 10-15 percent of public revenues, to reduce dependence on oil revenues to avoid fluctuations in oil prices.
IMF said that Kuwait’s real growth, which contracted by 2.6 percent in 2025, is forecast to increase by 2.6 percent this year, mainly on robust non-oil growth. Kuwait is the only member state in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which has not implemented the 5 percent value-added tax (VAT). IMF also welcomed Kuwait’s newly imposed 15 percent corporate income tax on multinational companies and its extension recently to cover all multinational firms operating in Kuwait. “Accelerating reform implementation is needed to promote economic diversification, enhance competitiveness, and boost non-oil growth,” the IMF said in the report.
