Oil-rich Kuwait warns citizens: Major budget cuts are coming | The Raw Story

Oil-rich Kuwait warns citizens: Major budget cuts are coming | The Raw Story:

"Oil-rich Kuwait said Monday that the generous cradle-to-grave welfare system provided to its 1.2 million citizens was “unsustainable” and it was time for change.

“The fact everyone must be aware of … is that the existing welfare state system that Kuwaitis are used to is unsustainable,” Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah said, presenting his government’s four-year programme to parliament.

The programme up to the 2016/2017 fiscal year aims to review subsidies, charges and prices of public services, besides imposing a taxation system in a country that generates 94 percent of its income from selling oil and where individuals and corporates pay no taxes.

The government has also promised to cut public expenditure, especially current spending which includes wages, subsidies and defence spending."

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