Delay in govt budget approval hinders development projects
Setback may have negative impact on economic performance
Elsewhere, the governor of a Russian region near Ukraine said at least one civilian was killed and six wounded by Ukrainian shelling in the village of Solokhi, near the border. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov’s account couldn’t be independently verified, but he said the village will be evacuated.
NATO membership
Finland’s president and prime minister said Thursday that the Nordic country should apply “without delay” for membership in the Western alliance, founded in part to counter the Soviet Union. The announcement means Finland is all but certain to apply to - and be accepted in - the military alliance whose members are committed to mutual defense, though the process could take months to complete. Neighboring Sweden could do the same within days.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned the country would take retaliatory “military-technical” steps and said the move would “inflict a serious damage to the Russian-Finnish relations as well as stability and security in Northern Europe.”
NATO’s support of Ukraine - particularly by supplying weapons - has been critical to Kyiv’s surprising success in stymieing Russia’s invasion, which began on Feb. 24. Many observers thought Moscow’s larger and better-armed military would be hard to stop, but the Ukrainians have bogged Russian troops down and thwarted their goal of overrunning the capital.
NATO members say they’re helping Ukraine defend itself but are eager to stress they are not directly involved in the war. But a top Russian official said the West’s supply of weapons and training posed a growing threat the fighting could spill into “an open and direct conflict between NATO and Russia.”
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said that “there is always a risk of such conflict turning into a full-scale nuclear war, a scenario that will be catastrophic for all.”
Already the war has unleashed staggering destruction, killed thousands and forced millions from their homes, while shattering Europe’s sense of post-Cold War stability.
In the wake of their failure to take Kyiv, Russian forces pulled back and regrouped - and switched their focus to Ukraine’s eastern Donbas, a region where Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian troops for eight years. While Russia’s advance there has been slow, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces noted Thursday that Moscow has achieved a “partial success.”
Western officials say Russia has gained ground and taken some villages but has not managed to seize any cities.
Associated Press reporters heard explosions Thursday and saw plumes of smoke near the town of Bakhmut, an area of the Donbas that has seen heavy fighting. The Ukrainian military said that Russian forces were “storming” two villages near Bakhmut, but the source of the blasts wasn’t immediately clear.
KUWAIT CITY, May 12: Economic sources say they fear the delay in approving the new budget may have negative impact on the economic performance, especially since most development projects in the country have slowed down in terms of their implementation since before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic due to the deficits that have accompanied the country’s budget since fiscal 2014-2015 until the repercussions imposed by the epidemic, reports AlQabas daily.
Although the recovery budget continues following the rise in oil prices the delay in approving the budget and political disruption major projects expected to be implemented will suffer due to the rapid changes that have occurred at the global economic level accompanied by rising inflation supply chain disruptions, as well as the ongoing repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Factors
All of these factors will undoubtedly increase the cost of implementing projects by tens of millions of dinars if not hundreds of millions, in addition to time and more opportunities wasted. The sources indicated that the slow pace of development in the country will have wide-ranging repercussions at several levels and sectors.
Sources confirmed that the delay in launching government projects will lead to an increase in their cost due to the rise in inflationary pressures, both in terms of the raw materials needed to complete these projects.
This is in addition to the fact that many companies and contractors rely on bank finances to provide the necessary liquidity, and after the high cost of loans in terms of interests there is no doubt that companies will demand an increase in the value of contracts for pending projects, both current and future, and this requires expediting the approval of the general budget so that government agencies can complete the contracting procedures for their projects.
It is a well-known fact that development projects in Kuwait suffer from several difficulties and as a result contractors failed to deliver of time. This is in some way tied to the delay in approving the
new budget project, which is seen as one of the major reason for the disruption of the progress of government and consequent failure to meet the stipulated dates which can be summed up as time wasted, opportunities wasted.
Although the Ministry of Finance emphasized in its circular that the supervisory authorities should give priority to the projects of the annual development plan, provided that the completion of their procedures
is expedited.
Most of the contractors working in the fields of building and construction suffer from the problems of high prices, supply chains and shortage of labor, and sources in the sector confirmed that there are continuous meetings between the major contracting companies to discuss realistic and practical solutions that ensure the continuation of the implementation of projects after approving the budget and
addressing the financial and logistical obstacles that have arisen since the cost increases with time.
Many government agencies wish to undertake projects that contribute to the development of their business and help them in providing digital and modern technological services, but the delay in the completion of these projects is an obstacle to the government development process.