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LONDON - Dr Saad Al-Barak, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil said Tuesday the volume of Kuwait's investment in the UK grew from USD nine billion to USD 42 billion over the past two decades.
"We began with just a few hundreds of thousands of sterling pounds deposited at the Bank of England in the 1950s. The investments kept growing by more than a double each decade later on thanks to good planning by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA)," he said.
Dr. Al-Barak, also Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Investment, Acting Minister of Finance, and Board Chairman of Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), made the comments in a speech to a celebration marking the 70th anniversary of Kuwait Investment Office (KIO) in London.
The celebration was held under the patronage and in the presence of His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
"When we celebrated the 50th anniversary of KIO in 2003, the volume of Kuwait investments in the UK stood at USD nine billion," Al-Barak said, noting that the figure tripled over the following decade to USD 24 billion in 2013, and quadrupled to USD 42 billion at present.
KIA used London as the focal point of its investment operations on the global markets, he pointed out.
The volume of assets run by KIO in London soared from USD 27 billion in 2003 to USD 120 billion in 2013 and to USD 250 billion in 2023, he said, adding that the figures reflect a growth rate of more than four times over the past two decades.
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