Financially Speaking….
Happy belated Easter bloggers,
My friends’ boyfriend came to visit her from NY this past weekend and since I don’t own a vehicle, my friend and I rented a car to pick him up from the airport. This afternoon, I went to a gas station to fill the car up before returning it. I left the gas station cursing. I spent a total of $41 on filling up this car. I could not believe how much it cost. I totally can relate to people here now and how much they are upset at paying this much money for their cars, especially people who have to commute. Kuwait is part of OPEC (The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). This means that we produce and export our own oil. Ok are you guys ready for this? This is gonna hurt! GAS is CHEAPER than WATER in Kuwait. I swear it. I had not paid any attention to it before, until one day I was telling my dad a bout how people complain here about the price of gas and he told me these facts.
In kuwait gas is sold at 10 fils a gallon (Fils is the Kuwaiti currency of coins). This is equal to about 30 cents. Bottles of water however, are sold at 100 fils for a 7.0 oz. bottle. This is equal to a little more than $2. Isn’t that crazy? Sorry guys. This pricing however, is one of the many reasons why almost everybody in Kuwait has a large SUV or even a Hummer. I mean here when you see a Hummer you stare and you wonder how they can afford to fill it up with gas every week. But in Kuwait, you see Hummers everywhere and Porsches and other brands of cars. Even cops in Kuwair drive BMW’s on the job I mean. Really click the photo link if you don’t believe me. Another reason why we have, or at least it seems that way, more money is because of the exchange rate between us and the U.S. Every $1 is equal to about 0.29 KWD (Kuwaiti Dinar). Yet in-spite of that difference, America is still one of the world’s greatest countries. So the lesson of the day is, ladies and gentlemen, that money is not everything, you need brains as well.
Sincerely
Dalal