‘Rates of gasoline in Kuwait not linked to global prices’
Govt restricts overseas travel expenses
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah received at Bayan Palace Sunday, in the presence of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khaled Al-Jarallah, British Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt and the accompanying delegation. Various issues of bilateral interest
were discussed. KUWAIT CITY, Dec 16: The government has yet to implement the second part of Cabinet decision number 23/2016 dated Aug 1, 2016 on restructuring gasoline prices, which mandates the Cabinet to instruct the concerned committee to review different types of subsidies provided by the country in order to amend the price of gasoline every three months to match the global prices of oil, reports Al-Anba daily quoting sources.
Sources disclosed Kuwait is the last among the GCC countries in restructuring gasoline prices, indicating that recent statistics revealed the gasoline prices in Kuwait remained the lowest in GCC countries and in the world after the amendment.
Sources asserted the gasoline price in Kuwait has not been linked with global prices until now although such a step serves the interests of citizens.
Meanwhile, in a remarkable move that raises many questions about the application of the laws in force, the Financial Auditing Authority has circulated to its employees “the necessity of the auditors’ compliance with the restrictions stipulated in Law No. 106 of 2018 linking the budget of ministries and government departments for the current fiscal year, reports Al-Rai daily.
However, sources stressed some of the restrictions contained in the law are not applicable.
Sources
According to sources familiar with the issue, among the restrictions the authority believes are inapplicable is the restriction on travel expenses during official missions.
The law stipulates that the commitment of government agencies based on Civil Service Commission (CSC) decision No. 1 of 2015 on travel expenses included in Article 7, states that, “with the consent of the concerned minister, the travel expenses under this resolution may be paid in advance and shall be settled at the end of the mission”.
The sources pointed out that travel expenses for overseas trips are restricted according to the generalization of the authority on the official tasks without the officials submitting documents indicating the commitment to the duration of the task to ensure the process of exchange is in order after their return, in accordance with the above law.
The government agencies, according to the aforementioned decision of the CSC, are obliged to record travel expenses in the account until submission of documents to prevent any waste in public money. The sources stressed that the laws require the implementation of the executive and supervisory authorities because they are not subject to debate, while the regulatory authorities have no right to give their opinion about a law issued by the National Assembly, whether it is applicable or not.