Kuwait had already slipped into an economic contraction of 1.1 per cent the fourth quarter of 2019, over the same period in the previous year, before Saudi Arabia decided to gamble again with the finances of fellow OPEC members and launch another oil price war in March designed to disable the U.S. shale oil sector. With the same destruction of its budget as happened the last time that it trusted Saudi Arabia’s decision-making, Kuwait is even more desperate for funds than last time, as is every other OPEC member that followed Saudi’s lead. In January – still two months ahead of Saudi’s latest disastrous decision – Finance Minister, Mariam Al-Aqeel, stated that the breakeven oil price required for Kuwait to post no deficit was US$81 per barrel (of Brent), and unveiled a 2020/21 budget projecting a KWD9.2 billion (US$30 billion) deficit. This was the sixth major deficit year in […]