KUWAIT CITY, June 5: According to informed sources, government agencies, especially the major ones, are facing a financial deficit in providing funds for purchasing the balance of leave days of their employees who meet the prescribed conditions, reports Al-Rai daily. They explained that the start of the implementation of the procedure requires a consolidative financial link to the balance sheet, with the total value of the leaves due for purchase, which is not currently available.

This may make it likely that the transfer of the value of the leave balance to those who deserve it will falter, at least in the near future. The government agencies had recently addressed the Ministry of Finance of being financially and technically ready to implement the decision to purchase the balance of their employees’ leave days, and had affirmed that their budget had the appropriate liquidity for covering the purchase of the balance of their employees’ leave days according to the established conditions.

However, the officials of the Ministry of Finance were instructed not to start the transaction until further notice. The sources revealed that government agencies with a large number of employees do not have sufficient liquidity in their approved budgets for the current fiscal year to purchase leave balances from their eligible employees, and therefore need the Ministry of Finance to provide an additional appropriation with all or part of the required liquidity.

The sources said, “More than one government agency has already completed preparing the list of eligible employees and the values of their leave days. They are awaiting the provision of adequate liquidity for payment. To confront this, the Ministry of Finance may have to approve a financial link or the so-called “top-up” for the budget of the current fiscal year to cover the dues. This takes time in view of the legislative need to approve the additional appropriation by the National Assembly”.