Anas Al-Saleh, Kuwait's deputy prime minister and finance minister, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policymakers attend the 47th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 17 - 20. [Simon Dawson/Bloomberg]
When Kuwait’s then-Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh warned in 2016 that it was time to cut spending and prepare for life after oil, he was ridiculed by a population raised on a seemingly endless flow of petrodollars.