SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Since the early 1950's Kuwait's economy has changed from one basically dependent upon marine enterprises to an oil-dominated one. Today Kuwait is completely dependent upon oil revenues and the traditional marine activities have declined in importance. However oil revenues will not sustain Kuwait's economy indefinitely and consequently it is necessary to begin to diversify the economy now so as to secure the country's future. The marine and trade sectors are likely to provide the forms for such diversification and the possibilities for developing these interrelated sectors form the basis of this thesis. The first chapter examines the role of oil in Kuwait's economic life and development, while the next chapter deals with the physical characteristics of the study area. Chapter three outlines the background to population and economic growth. The fourth chapter will discuss the historical background. The next five chapters form the core of the thesis and examine trade and invisible trade shipping and the fishing industry respectively. Finally, prospects for developing other parts of the marine sector are examined. It is shown that oil still dominates Kuwait's economy and that the prospects for developing agriculture and industry as alternative sectors are limited due to geographical constraints. Because of Kuwait's strategic location, the prospects for developing trade are greater, particularly certain aspects of invisible trade, such as banking and overseas aid and investment. The importance of regional co-operation in this context is also stressed. Similarly, the prospects for developing the marine sector are also seen as considerable, particularly in fishing. Thus, it is concluded that with Kuwait's capital resources derived from oil, it should be possible for the country to achieve a sufficient level of diversification in the future to offset to some extent its complete dependence upon oil. Finally it is hoped that this study has shed some light on the importance of the trade and marine sectors to Kuwait, sectors which have hitherto been largely neglected, and will lead to further studies in this field.