(MENAFN- Arab Times) KUWAIT CITY Sept 9 (KUNA): Kuwait is seeking to intensify efforts to achieve a quantum leap in economic structure within the framework of a strategic vision to develop the national economy Minister of Finance Anas Khaled Al-Saleh said on Tuesday. Addressing the opening session of the sixth annual Euromoney Kuwait Conference which kicked off here today with the participation of senior officials experts and businessmen Al-Saleh added that the major gathering comes at a time of sweeping several changes and developments that create a financial and economic environment forcing decision makers to be as alert as ever when responding to it. Cautious optimism regarding the future trends of the world's economic performance is dominant at present with the emergence of initial signs the performance is improving the Minister said referring to the latest estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which revealed limited improvement in economic growth. Al-Saleh thus expected some deceleration in economic growth in emerging and developing economies this year but they will improve next year. The Minister also expected the world economic growth to hit 3.2 percent this year compared to 3.2 percent in 2013. As for the GCC economies Al-Saleh predicted they will achieve moderate growth with improvement in the non-petroleum sectors considering the geo-political factors in the Middle East. On the local economy the Finance Minister referred to data revealing the continuation of improvement in some non-petroleum sectors whose share of the GDP hit 10 percent in 2013 which led the overall GDP to reach 2.3 percent last year. The governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) Mohammad Al-Hashel on Tuesday highlighted the sweeping reforms in the world's banking and financial industry. 'The global banking and financial industry is witnessing a new era of structural and regulatory reform aimed at strengthening monetary and financial stability and in the long run establishing overall economic stability' Al-Hashel told the sixth annual Euromoney Kuwait Conference held here today. Therefore the regulatory authorities and banking and financial units 'should derive benefits from such reforms by adopting the correct approach in developing our banking and financial systems in view of the regional and international experiences as well as implementing the best international practices taking into consideration the vital role of banks in the national economy and their deep relations with the society' he noted. He said that the CBK had continued to adjust and where necessary improve its oversight and regulation by implementing the regulatory standards issued by Basel Committee for Banking Supervision including Basel III set of financial reforms. 'In keeping with best international practices we aim to strengthen the banking and financial sector's ability to manage and be resilient to risk thereby reinforcing the pillars of financial stability in the country and without lessening their ability to develop their businesses profitably and efficiently' he elaborated. These characteristics of the national economy force us to work on varying its structure enhancing the role of the private sector in economic activities in line with the strategic targets of development. The Minister also referred to sweeping changes on the regional and international levels and their implications on the oil markets in particular. He said that the world agencies had granted Kuwait high ratings the highest on the GCC level. On the arrangements to counter challenges facing the Kuwaiti economy Al-Saleh told gathering that the economic findings create a need to direct the financial policies to take executive measures likely to vary the national economy besides fostering the role by the private sector to push forward the wheel of sustainable economic growth. These policies will also have to consider opening more room for the rates of rising national labor the minister said adding that liberating the economic activities from bureaucracy is of high importance to such strategic vision together with developing legislations relevant to economic activities. He stated that reform will have to go into two parallel directions; the first focusing on promoting economic administration to support the private sector while the second will target boosting efforts for financial reform in addition to increasing the flexibility of the public budget regarding both revenues and expenditure. This can be realized through increasing non-petroleum revenues and curbing spending he concluded.
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