19
MAR

Investment in Kuwait

 

Introduction:

State of Kuwait is a country located in western Asia and member in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with a total population of almost 4, 650, 000 (30% of them are Kuwaiti nationals and 70% are expats), according to the published annual governmental budget the estimated budget for the year 2018/2019 will include about 20 Billion Kuwait Dinar for expenditures (around 65 Billion USD ).

Most of the governmental income is generated from oil (about 89% of the total income in the annual budget for the year 2018/2019) therefore the government of Kuwait adopted Kuwait National Development Plan under the name of “Kuwait Vision 2035 “to transform Kuwait into a world class financial and commercial Centre.

The government of Kuwait decided to develop the local laws to attract foreign investments as a part of Kuwait Vision 2035 and the law no. 116 of 2013 for the Promotion of Direct Investment in State of Kuwait considered as a first step to attract the foreign investments through providing the required protections and also granting certain advantages to the foreign companies to enter the Kuwait local market.

A new entity was established according to the above-mentioned law under the name of “Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority – KDIPA” to facilitate the procedures related to foreign investors. Our office “MMA Law Firm” is one of the listed entities in KDIPA to represent the foreign investors in acquiring the necessary licenses and approvals to operate in Kuwait.

Based on the above, we have decided to publish a series of weekly articles to explain the legal process and necessary procedures to operate in Kuwait under the law no. 116 of 2013 for the Promotion of Direct Investment in State of Kuwait and also to explain the advantages granted by the government in this respect.