Kuwait: banking on growth.

Kuwait is back on track economically. After a historic and wrenching 3.5percent contraction in GDP in 2017, due mainly to the global fall in oil prices, the tiny Persian Gulf emirate is poised to turn around with an uptick to 0.6percent growth for 2019, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data; rising to 3.1percent in 2020.

"Kuwait's economy has continued to demonstrate resilience, notwithstanding a challenging economic environment," says Mohammad Y. Al-Hashel, governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK). To be sure, there are negative countercurrents: growing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, an economic blockade of Qatar and a continuing war in Yemen. "The political situation in the region is affecting investments," says Mohammad Al...