Petrol prices are most likely to be increased before the end of May as part of a series of steps and measures to be made to avoid reducing Kuwait’s sovereign rating, Kuwait Times daily reported citing Al-Rai Arabic news paper. Increasing gasoline prices is a practical solution so that the government could avoid downgrading, especially since hiking petrol prices do not need a special law like electricity prices, the daily added.

Increasing petrol prices simultaneously with those of electricity would confirm that Kuwait had already started actual economic reforms through reducing the cost of subsidies, especially since fuel subsidies alone have been costing the state budget around KD 1 million a year (71 percent of total subsidies), report added.