Kuwait

Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling Kuwaiti AL-SABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91. The AL-SABAH family has ruled since returning to power in 1991 and reestablished an elected legislature that in recent years has become increasingly assertive. The country witnessed the historic election in May 2009 of four women to its National Assembly.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Kuwaiti dinar (ISO code: KWD)
• Central bank discount rate: 2.5% (10 February 2010)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 5.9% (31 December 2009)
• Stock of money (M1): $16.05 billion (31 December 2009)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $71.79 billion (31 December 2009)

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	30 121	37 718	34 891	38 139	47 876	59 441	80 798	101 561	114 739	148 024
Govt. debt (% of GDP)
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)	33.406			45.246	42.532	38.648	37.164	46.125	47.217	47.392
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)	40.168			40.164	33.644	30.776	26.190	22.827	31.250	23.955
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

External links

• Kuwait on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Kuwait
• Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
• BBC country profile