97.5% of Kuwaiti debtors repay

97.5% of the 550,000 Kuwaiti debtors pay their instalments regularly without any problem

Kuwait, The Gulf Observer: The Central Bank of Kuwait said in a statement that the total value of consumer and housing loans owed by Kuwaiti citizens is KD 14.7 billion, of which KD 13 billion are housing loans.

But the bank insisted that 97.5% of the 550,000 Kuwaiti debtors pay their instalments regularly without any problem, and that only 2.5 percent of them face difficulties repaying.MPs have submitted a large number of so-called populist laws including draft legislation calling on the government to purchase personal and consumer loans of citizens.

The proposed laws are very expensive, according to the government. Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Ammar Al-Ajmi said that the government should be given enough time to prepare legal, technical and financial studies regarding proposed laws submitted by lawmakers.

97.5% of Kuwaiti debtors repay, only 2.5% default:The Central Bank of Kuwait

Ajmi said that there should be agreement between the government and the National Assembly on draft laws, especially those listed on the agenda of the next Assembly session on Jan 10. But the minister insisted that the government is keen to look into issues that provide financial benefits to Kuwaiti citizens.

MP Khaled Al-Tammar said the government is obliged to serve the interests of the Kuwaiti people, adding that threats of dissolving the National Assembly will not stop lawmakers from looking after the interests of the people.

HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah on Monday met with a number of lawmakers to discuss cooperation between the Assembly and the government over key proposals made by MPs that constitute a financial burden on public funds. It was reported that the prime minister said that insisting on such costly proposals could lead to dissolving the National Assembly, elected only in September.

Meanwhile, MP Khalil Al-Saleh submitted a draft law calling on authorities to give priority to employ children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis.

Under Kuwaiti law, children of Kuwaiti women married to foreign husbands are not entitled to Kuwaiti citizenship. Saleh said children of Kuwaiti women should be given employment in the public sector after Kuwaiti citizens.