Kuwait toughens its stance on expats

Prime minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah has set a challenging target for his government by saying the proportion of expatriates in the Kuwaiti population should drop from the current 70% to 30%. Referring to the “discrepancy in population”, Sheikh Sabah told a meeting of local newspaper editors on 3 June that “the ideal population structure is to have Kuwaitis being 70% and non-Kuwaitis 30%.”The figure is an aspiration rather than a short-term policy goal.