Private education sector ‘hit’ too

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 1: The Second Vice- Chairman of Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry Fahad Al-Jouaan in a special statement said a review of the demographics indicates the emigration of expatriates from Kuwait will have a significant impact on the real estate sector, as the sector constitutes a large part of bank debts. He added that private education sector will as well be affected by the migration of some teachers and students, reports Al-Anba daily.

“In the event of a decline in the value of mortgaged assets, banks will be required to liquidate them. This will constitute a major crisis for real estate sector, especially with the Central Bank’s decision to postpone liquidation of assets ending in the last days of September, while there are no signs of improvement in this crisis so far”, Al-Jouaan noted.

He pointed out that the Kuwaiti economy is severely paralyzed by the Corona pandemic since last March, in light of the closure of borders that prevented exports, amid the closure of shops that caused damage to companies and individuals, especially in the second quarter of this year. He considered re-exports and transit with other countries in the last period an important step toward restoring life to the Kuwaiti companies and factories whose profits have decreased by 50% due to the suspension of land exports.

Regarding economic stimulus measures, Al-Jouaan said the Chamber presented many recommendations to the Economic Stimulation Committee concerning small and medium enterprises, banking, education and many different economic aspects but the consequences of not taking the decision related to health at the right time resulted in Kuwait suffering deep economic crisis, which will soon appear in various sectors.

He pointed out that the economic packages and financial incentives put in place and demanded from the outset should have been studied afterwards with other packages, but it did not happen in Kuwait, unlike some countries in the region and the world that entered into third and fourth economic packages. The delay has negatively effected the economy in a big way.

He added: “The move should not be purely financial support, as private sector does not look to compensate for the losses in that crisis. Rather, it looks at providing support and protecting the sector morally from foreign competition if it exists. These are precrisis claims, but they revealed the extent of the weakness of the strategic industrial reserve of the state”.