Figure 10.1 Gross domestic product and gross national income, Kuwait, 1971–2000, KD m (current). Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics Yearbook 2001:632–633.

Kuwait was able to benefit greatly from its comparative advantage in world trade as long as oil prices remained favourable. Indeed, by the early 1980s, crude oil and oil products comprised over 90 per cent of all goods exports, including re-exports (NBK, EFQ 1982, 2:28). Kuwait’s direction of trade was also stable and predictable, exporting oil mainly to Europe and, increasingly, to Asia. Japan became the leading purchaser of Kuwaiti exports, taking as much as 20 per cent until 1990, while the United States took less than 10 per cent. Japan was also the leading supplier of imports into Kuwait in the 1980s, its share averaging about 20 per cent, as shown in Table 10.2.