Govt’s decision to ‘exclude’ some from front-line rewards criticized

Banks present alternative plan to help SMEs

KUWAIT CITY, April 8: Regarding the Cabinet’s decision to exclude the officials (420 leaders) for the COVID-19 front-line reward, government sources said, “These leaders are those who were appointed through an Amiri decree”, reports Al-Rai daily.

MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji said, “Allocating KD 600 million for disbursing front-line bonuses is a deserved thing in view of what these heroes have sacrificed. However, excluding leaders of establishments requires reconsideration, even if this necessitates an increase in supplementary appropriation”.

The various leaders in most of the bodies that were excluded from the reward lists refused to comment on the issue.

They indicated that it is not possible to talk about demanding a reward in exchange for what they consider as their responsibility and a national mission that is still ongoing.

Some observers expressed surprise at the government’s decision not to reward some of the leaders who worked hard and really deserve appreciation especially they have been working day and night since the beginning of the crisis for several months to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, carry out the tasks assigned to them, and meet their responsibility in terms of issuing and implementing decisions which contributed to the success of the efforts to contain the pandemic.

They stressed that, “The leaders took the initiative to carry out the national mission without waiting for rewards for what they did. The government’s recent decision to exclude only some from receiving the reward was unpopular due to the discrimination shown towards the employees and not taking into

account the level of performance and the extent of success in the work.”

The observers highlighted the fact that the government had promised to reward all workers confronting the pandemic, and repeatedly

promoted rewarding the diligent and punishing the negligent.

They urged the government to apply the principle of fairness and reconsider its recent decision because of its negative effects on the morale of leaders that may reflect indirectly on their performance.

Move to help SMEs:

Banks have proposed an alternative project for the government project that was referred to the National Assembly to guarantee the financing of the affected small and medium enterprises, as they called for the use of the same law previously presented by the Central Bank of Kuwait after it was amended by the banks, reports Al-Rai daily.

The banks suggested that the state guarantee for the financing should be 100 percent, and that it must guarantee 75 percent of the principal financing provided to the initiative without returns or interest, provided the maximum total portfolio is KD 500 million subject to increase by a decision from the Minister of Finance.

While the banks justified their proposal by saying the risk ratio is high and the proposed financing period is long, the financing interest was estimated at one percent above the discount rate, on the condition that it be variable and not fixed. This is unlike the government project, which proposes an interest of 2.5 percent in the first year of the “grace period” to be borne by the state’s general budget in full, and the same in the second year, provided that it is equally divided between the state’s general budget and the client, and also 2.5 percent of the third is borne by the client in full.

As for the repayment period, the banks suggested paying the principal and the return within not more than ten years, and choosing a grace period not exceeding 3 years from the period of financing. In the event that the aggrieved customer does not commit to paying one of the payments for a period of 90 days, he is prohibited from any profit cash distributions. In the event of default, the value of the guarantee is determined at 75 percent of the remaining balance of the defaulted financing principal.