Kuwait City: The Kuwaiti Government has no plans to scrap loans of heavily indebted citizens.
According to the newspaper Alqabas, last week around 400 people rallied in Irada Square opposite the National Assembly to call upon the Amir Shaikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to write off their loans.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet stressed keenness on justice and equality between all citizens, rejecting any measure which would undermine the national economy.
Addressing the weekly Cabinet session, Central Bank Governor Mohammed Al-Hashel said that less than one percent of debtors are experiencing trouble in repayment consumer loans.
“The total value of consumer loans is KD 989 million ($3.253 billion), while the total value of housing loans is KD 12 billion ($39.5 billion), he said.
Citing updated figures, Hashel said that 4,677 citizens are having trouble repaying their loans, out 552,000 indebted Kuwaiti nationals.
The Cabinet discussed the government’s efforts to address the situation of some people who were unable to repay their loans, through the establishment of a special fund through which the government allocated around KD 800 million ($2.63 billion) to address the financial situation of 34,174 people.
Central Bank Executive Director of the supervision sector Waleed Al-Awadhi said that there are 429,000 Kuwaiti debtors, making up 90 percent of the workforce under the age of 50.