The Structure of the Economy

Abstract

Although, as has already been indicated, Kuwait shares with other developing countries many of their common properties and problems, the Kuwait economy displays a number of unique characteristics. In order to elucidate these characteristics, it is necessary to examine in detail the structure of the economy as well as the interaction of the various economic sectors, along with their organisation and development in more recent years. This chapter, together with the three that follow, is therefore devoted to a systematic analysis of the domestic economy. However, it differs from the others in that it makes use of an aggregative econometric model in order to portray more rigorously the salient features that warrant emphasis. But firstly an anlysis will be made of the main structural developments which have taken place in recent years, along with an investigation of their causes. The examination of the institutional organisation of the economy, its major production sectors and the local banking and financial structure will be conducted in the following three chapters.