Kuwaiti pharmaceutical market will rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.97 percent in local currency terms, which will mean the market value will have topped KWD140 million ($520 million), Kuwait Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q3 2010 released by companiesandmarkets.com on Monday said. In 10-year forecast period, the CAGR is likely to fall to 5.48 percent. Key drivers of growth will be healthcare modernization initiatives and demographic and epidemiological factors, with Kuwaitis, for example, suffering one of the highest rates of obesity in the world. On the negative side, the report said counterfeiting will continue to pose threats to multinational activities in the country, although the authorities are working to enforce better protection. in April 2010, Kuwait´s Minister of Health announced that medicines prices for 5,000 essential drugs will be reduced by 5 percent, adding that prices in the sector will be reviewed every six months. The ministry is also planning to ensure that public hospitals and pharmacies are stocked with medicines in the most highly-consumed therapeutic categories to prevent patients paying higher fees at private pharmacies. Moreover, a common GCC-wide pharmaceutical import policy has been proposed by the Kuwaiti government to alleviate cost pressures, in order to make pharmaceuticals more affordable in the private sector. In the meantime, the economic recovery will be sluggish at best for the next few years (at under 2 percent per annum), unless the government manages to take control of economic policy, implement reform and attract inward investment and private sector expertise. Nevertheless, the government seems committed to modernization of healthcare facilities, as well to the improvement of patient care, as evidenced by the recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Canadian institution regarding improvement of cancer care and treatment in Kuwait. The report noted that fiscal policy will remain expansionary, accommodated by loose monetary policy, which should provide much of the impetus for growth in 2010. State spending is expected to rise by around 10 percent in the coming year.
