Kuwait

Panorama económico e industrial

Kuwait is a high-income Gulf state whose economy is dominated by petroleum and natural gas, which together account for more than half of GDP and over 90% of export revenues. The country holds approximately 7% of the world's proven oil reserves and is a member of OPEC. The government manages the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds estimated at over $800 billion in assets. Kuwait Vision 2035 (New Kuwait) aims to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons toward finance, trade, and logistics, though progress has been constrained by political friction between the executive and the National Assembly. The Kuwaiti dinar is pegged to an undisclosed basket of currencies and is consistently one of the highest-valued currency units in the world.

Sectores clave

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Macro

PIB nominal, USD	$160.23B
Crecimiento del PIB real, anual	-2.6%
Inflación anual	2.7%
Población personas	4.8M
PIB per cápita USD	$31,944
Capitalización bursátil total cotizado, USD	$141.48B
Cap. bursátil / PIB	88.3%
Desempleo	2.1%
Empresas cotizadas	146
Bolsa	Boursa Kuwait (BKW)

Año de los datos: 2024. Fuentes: World Bank World Development Indicators, IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026), Worldometer / IMF April 2026, Trading Economics, U.S. State Department 2024 Investment Climate Statements: Kuwait, Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA), Oxford Business Group Kuwait 2024 Report, Global Finance Magazine, FocusEconomics, CEOWORLD Magazine, FRED St. Louis Fed, Boursa Kuwait (boursakuwait.com.kw).

Bolsa local y acceso

Bolsa	Boursa Kuwait
Código	BKW
Sitio web	www.boursakuwait.com.kw
Moneda	KWD

Acceso a brókers locales

Foreign investors can access Boursa Kuwait through locally licensed brokers and select international brokers with GCC market access. As of early 2024, ten registered brokerage firms are licensed on Boursa Kuwait. Online brokerage access for non-residents can be limited; some international platforms offer access via CFDs or regional funds. The exchange operates a Premier Market and a Main Market segment, with MSCI Emerging Market index inclusion since 2020. Investors should verify current foreign ownership limits and account-opening requirements directly with their chosen broker.

Brókers globales con acceso a mercados extranjeros

• Interactive Brokers — Direct access to 90+ markets worldwide, including many emerging exchanges.
• Saxo Bank — Multi-market access across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
• Charles Schwab (Global) — Foreign ordinary shares on select markets; US-listed ADRs and ETFs.
• Fidelity International Trading — International stock trading on a number of developed and emerging markets.

Listado solo a efectos informativos — no constituye recomendación. Los mercados disponibles, las comisiones y los requisitos de incorporación varían según el bróker y el país de residencia.

Reubicación y residencia

Acceso para inversores extranjeros

Kuwait does not offer a general residency-by-real-estate-purchase scheme. Residency for expatriates is typically tied to employer sponsorship (the kafala system). The new KDIPA long-term investor residency (2026) is available to licensed foreign investors meeting the KDIPA capital and employment thresholds. There is no pathway to Kuwaiti citizenship for expatriates under standard circumstances; naturalisation is extremely restricted by law.