Kuwait needs to end its bailout culture

* username: rupertbu

Hostile global forces wreaked havoc on economies around the world in 2009. It is understandable, therefore, that financially despondent citizens should not want to hear the word that became synonymous with last year — bailout.

Except that is, in Kuwait. Indeed, many of its nationals are hoping to hear the term that so many of us have become utterly tired of. As the Kuwaiti government and parliament come to a binding agreement on whether to rescue its citizens from a tide of mounting debt, the rest of the GCC watches on with interest to see what lessons can be learned.

It was Kuwait's national assembly that recently caused the furore by voting in favour of a bill that could see the government assume responsibility of Dh85.8 billion worth of consumer debt.