The phrase you hear most in Kuwait these days is, “it takes time”. Unlike a year ago, when the stalemate between the country's government and parliament meant that the most common words being bandied about were “blockages”, “delays” and “stagnation”, recent months have witnessed a transformation of attitudes, a new-found optimism and a more positive environment in which the political paralysis that has dogged the economy in recent years appears to be, slowly but surely, retreating.
Has Kuwait turned a corner; has one of the world’s biggest oil producers put its domestic problems behind it? It is perhaps too early to tell, but a number of indicators suggest that the new-found optimism is justified.