commodities:
food, construction materials, vehicles and parts, clothing
partners:
US 15%, Japan 12%, FRG 8%, UK 7%
External debt:
$7.2 billion (December 1989 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 3% (1988); accounts for 52% of GDP
Electricity:
3,100,000 kW available out of 8,290,000 kW capacity due to Persian Gulf war;
7,300 million kWh produced, 3,311 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries:
petroleum, petrochemicals, desalination, food processing, building
materials, salt, construction
Agriculture:
virtually none; dependent on imports for food; about 75% of potable water
must be distilled or imported
Economic aid:
donor - pledged $18.3 billion in bilateral aid to less developed countries
(1979-89)
Currency:
Kuwaiti dinar (plural - dinars); 1 Kuwaiti dinar (KD) = 1,000 fils
Exchange rates:
Kuwaiti dinars (KD) per US$1 - 0.2950 (March 1992), 0.2843 (1991), 0.2915
(1990), 0.2937 (1989), 0.2790 (1988), 0.2786 (1987)

:Kuwait Economy

Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June

:Kuwait Communications

Railroads:
6,456 km total track length (1990); over 700 km double track; government
owned
Highways:
3,900 km total; 3,000 km bituminous; 900 km earth, sand, light gravel
Pipelines:
crude oil 877 km; petroleum products 40 km; natural gas 165 km
Ports:
Ash Shu`aybah, Ash Shuwaykh, Mina' al 'Ahmadi
Merchant marine:
29 ships (1,000 GRT or over), totaling 1,196,435 GRT/1,957,216 DWT; includes
2 cargo, 4 livestock carrier, 18 oil tanker, 4 liquefied gas; note - all
Kuwaiti ships greater than 1,000 GRT were outside Kuwaiti waters at the time
of the Iraqi invasion; many of these ships transferred to the Liberian flag
or to the flags of other Persian Gulf states; only 1 has returned to Kuwaiti
flag since the liberation of Kuwait
Civil air:
9 major transport aircraft
Airports:
7 total, 4 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over
3,659 m; 4 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; none with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications:
civil network suffered extensive damage as a result of Desert Storm;
reconstruction is under way with some restored international and domestic
capabilities; broadcast stations - 3 AM, 0 FM, 3 TV; satellite earth
stations - destroyed during Persian Gulf war; temporary mobile satellite
ground stations provide international telecommunications; coaxial ca