Page 1 of 7
News Summary Report Sunday/August 12, 2018
Domestic Affairs CBK Sets up Multi-Bills ATM Machines for Eid Al-Adha
The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) announced on Saturday that ATM machines, offering all types of banknotes and bills, would be available for the masses before the occasion of Eid Al- Adha.
Bills of one, five, 10 and 20 Kuwaiti dinars denominations would be available in ATM machines at the Avenues, Gate, 360 and Awtad Al-Jahra malls, said CBK.
“The service is being provided for the second year in a row due to high demand”, indicated the bank in a press release.
“The bank will provide this service in cooperation with the Kuwait Banking Association (KBA), Kuwait retail payment service (KNET) and designated commercial malls”, the bank added – KUNA
Partnership Projects to be considered by the Cabinet
The Cabinet shall consider tomorrow in its meeting presided by HE the Prime Minister, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak a report including procedures of accelerating granting and implementing the Partnership Authority.
Informed sources told Al-Anbaa that this step is implementation of the Cabinet decree in its Monday session to assign the Authority in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, Civil Service Commission, and Fatwa and Legislation Department to set procedures for accelerating the implementation of partnership between the public and the private sectors.
The decree sets forth sending a report of the results to the cabinet within one week. As for the proposal of modifying the law of public tenders, the sources replied that there is strong recognition of the necessity of rendering any modification on any law to achieve the public interest, provided that the modification should be constitutional to keep the public funds on the one hand and to open the way to support young people, who are owners of small and medium projects.
“There is no decision till now and the issue needs more study”, answered the sources to the question on stating labor subsidies for Kuwaitis who are owners of very small licenses – Al- Anbaa
Page 2 of 7
Parliamentary Coordination to State the Law of “Exempting the dead from Housing Loans”
Al-Anbaa knew from parliamentary sources that there is a coordination between a group of MPs to state a draft law on exempting the dead from housing loans to Kuwait Credit Bank.
The sources anticipated that this proposal shall be priority during the next session in order to mitigate the burden of housing loans on the heirs of the dead.
MP Majed Al-Mutairi supported this proposal in a press statement to Al-Anbaa indicating that he shall discuss it in the People’s Assembly – Al-Anbaa
State Departments Told to Prepare Lists of Replaceable Expats by March 2019
The finance ministry asked all state departments to prepare lists that include the number of Kuwaiti employees and other sites, where expat labor can be replaced by Kuwaitis before the end of March 2019, so that the ministry can continue its reforms.
Sources said the completion of the e-government system will reduce a large portion of manpower, so significant number of employees- both Kuwaitis and expats – will be let go, as electronic linkage will boost the ease of work environment and reduce the number of employees, which calls for replacement of foreign labor with Kuwaiti ones in addition to maintaining technical jobs.
The relative improvement in oil prices lately helps the general budget to reduce the deficit by a good percentage, but this doesn’t mean that Kuwait should stop the financial reform program or the restructuring of the population structure, the sources noted.
Meanwhile, official Public Authority for Civil Information statistics show a rise in the number of Kuwaitis working in the public and private sectors in the age group 15 -19 years to 1,350 – Kuwait Times
Immigration of 12.5 Families Exacerbate Real Estate Crisis
The continuing immigration of the expat families from Kuwait is a risk indicator on the real estate sector. The year 2017 alone recorded the immigration of nearly 12.5 who have family visas. This group immigration has negative repercussions on all fields, especially the real estate field as statistics of the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) indicated that there are nearly 105 thousand and 496 vacant apartments in Kuwait till the end of December 2017.
Statistics also indicated that “occupied apartments are nearly 209 thousands and 447; nearly one third of Kuwait apartments are vacant due to expansion in building on the one hand and
Page 3 of 7
the rising rate of immigration of expat families from Kuwait due to the rising fees.
Despite statements of the government to modify the population structure, Immigration Statistics indicate that the number of residencies (Article 18) in 2017 reached 1.4 million, whereas it was 1.3 by the end of 2016. This means that there are sixty nine thousand and 230 expats, who entered into Kuwait in the private labor sector – Al-Seyassa
Concentrating on the Idea of Lanes in “South Sabah Al-Ahmad City”
The Public Authority for Housing Care revealed the shape of South Sabah Al-Ahmad City, which coincides with receiving requests of assignment in the project.
“ The city represents a new shape of developed projects, as per the approach adopted by the Authority to deveop and diversity the shapes of its projects including designs of housing projects, urban planning, infrastructure, modern and environment-friendly sustainable services”, said Vice GM of the Public Authority for Housing Care for Planning and Design Affairs, Nasser Khrebat.
He further clarified that the project is planned by one of the best consultant offices in the world, who is granted world awards in the field of planning and designing cities. He also indicated that planning of the city is done in a certain way to achieve the highest percentage of distinguished housing buildings, some of which shall be overlooking 3 streets. This in addition to optimizing the efficiency of houses that overlook one street by providing them with green areas. He further said that the idea of Kuwait lanes is used in a modern and developed way- Al- Jareeda
Emergency Helipad at Sabah Al-Ahmad
Kuwait Minister of Health, Dr. Bassel Al-Sabah affirmed that establishing medical emergency helipad in Sabah Al-Ahmad city is one of the priorities to serve the city and its neighborhood.
Meanwhile, informed sources indicated to Al-Qabas that air ambulance represents a qualitative transition in the field of service provision, and also by means of accelerating shifting of the injured person from the site of accidents and reports to emergency departments at public hospitals, where there are helipads. Sources further indicated that the estimated period to transfer any injured person is nearly between 5 to 7 minutes, noting that it contributes in saving injured persons significantly- Al-Qabas
No Retreat from Penalizing Corrupt People in Customs Wherever They Are: Al-Galawi The General Manager of the Public Authority for Customs, Consultant Gamal Al-Galawi affirmed continuing the steps of reform and accountability of corrupt people. He emphasized that “reform and combating of corruption is a non-negotiable initiative, and transfer of violators to judiciary or administrative investigation, whatever their positions is a final decision”.
Page 4 of 7
Al-Jallawi affirmed that “ what he said before that the year 2018 shall be different in customs is not just ink on paper, however, this is a work plan that was and shall be implemented by the sincere people of customs” – Al-Rai
Page 5 of 7
Economy Kuwaiti Oil down $ 2.25 to $ 69.91 pb
The price of Kuwait oil went down $ 2.25 to reach $ 69.91 (pb) on Friday, compared to $ 72.16 pb last Wednesday, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) announced Saturday.
International markets Friday saw a hike in price due to impacts of US re-imposed sanctions on Iran. Brent blend was up 74 cents to $ 72.96 pb upon settlement, while West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $ 67.63 pb, gaining 82 cents- KUNA
Abdullah Port Refinery Lifted Export Capacity of oil coal into 14 thousand tons/per day Informed sources in KNPC indicated that the company completed last week its development of the utilities exporting coal oil in Abdullah Port refinery to reach 14 thousand tons on a daily basis. However, the export capacity of the plant prior to development operations was nearly 4 thousand tons on a daily basis.
Sources said that Abdullah Port refinery finished the project, which aims to lift the export capacity of the oil coal product from 200 tons to 6000 tons per hour, indicating that the current export capacity reached 3 doubles the previous capacity – Al-Seyassa
Kuwait Real Estates in Turkey Lost Half Its Value
Real Estate Experts affirmed that Kuwait investments in Turkish Real estate lost nearly half of its value due to the diminishing value of the Turkish lira, which became 6.43 liras for one US dollar, and 21 liras for one KWD.
The volume of Kuwaiti investments in Turkey exceeds $ two billion, 70% thereof are in the real estate field. Experts indicated that losses reached % 53% for those who purchased real estate’s 2 year ago as per the medium prices of real estate’s currently – Al-Qabas
Page 6 of 7
External Affairs
Technical Kuwaiti-Saudi Meeting to Re-Produce Oil from Khafji in December
Informed sources told Al-Anbaa that there are “Kuwaiti-Saudi meetings including technical teams, which started procedures for oil reproduction in Al-Khafji oil field after it was suspended for 4 years.
Sources indicated that both countries formally agreed to re-produce oil from the oil field next December.
Sources further demonstrated that “meetings of the technical teams include officials in Kuwait Ministry of Oil and its Saudi counterpart in addition to officials in Kuwait Gulf Oil Company and Chevron Company, which represents the Saudi party in Al-Khafji and Al-Wafra. Sources affirmed that “what are not discussed included assessment of machinery and equipment in Al- Khafji, maintenance programs and transportation lines”.
Sources reported that “oil production in the oilfield shall return its production as before without any changes or modifications in the organizing regulations”, adding, “Projects which were anticipated before were handled with new agreement between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia”.
Sources affirmed that the current Saudi-Kuwaiti meetings are utterly technical and that its mission is to set the final touch on launching oil production in the border region between the two countries- Al-Anbaa
Kuwait Strongly Deplores Attack on Jordan Security Patrol
Kuwait vehemently condemns a vehicle blast targeting Jordanian joint forces of gendarmerie and public security, which left one police officer dead and six others injured, said a source of the Kuwait Foreign Ministry.
Kuwait stands side by side with Jordan and even backs all measures it is taking in order to maintain and safeguard its security and stability, the source said in a press statement on Saturday.
The source reaffirmed the Gulf country’s principled and unwavering stance that decries all manifestations of violence and terrorism, while offering sincere condolences to the victims’
families and wishing a swift recovery of those wounded in the attack.
Earlier Saturday, Jordanian police said security investigations showed a homemade explosive device planted near a police vehicle was behind a bombing that killed one police officer and inured six others the day before – KUNA
KUNA: http://www.kuna.net.kw/Default.aspx?language=en
Page 7 of 7 Al Rai: http://www.alraimedia.com/
Kuwait Times: http://www.news.kuwaittimes.net/website/
Arab Times: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/
MEED: http://www.meed.com/
Al Anbaa: http://www.alanba.com.kw/newspaper
