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What is behind Kuwait's change of government, economic woes?

The decades-long dance of political reshuffles has prevented the execution of investment and reforms in national infrastructure, health and social services, and also economic projects.

Members of parliament attend a session, Kuwait City, Kuwait, April 4, 2023.
Members of parliament attend a session, Kuwait City, Kuwait, April 4, 2023. — Yasser al-Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images

DUBAI — Kuwait announced its new government last Sunday, its seventh in three years, in the latest shakeup driven by political and fiscal paralysis that is expected to reach new heights if not resolved. 

Experts see the dance of government and parliament reshuffles — which have been ongoing since 1960 according to Al Jazeera — as hindering the execution of investment and reforms in national infrastructure, health and social services, and also economic projects.

Kristin Smith Diwan, a senior resident scholar at The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said the culmination of political inefficiencies have added up, and exacerbated the situation in recent years. 

“In the last decade or so Kuwait has turned more inward due to this repeated kind of political crisis,” Diwan told Al-Monitor.

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