Exchange companies in isolated areas stagnant

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KUWAIT CITY, Jun 9: Exchange companies witnessed in more than one area congestion with the end of the total ban period, the situation was different in the areas which were under isolation (Farwaniya, Khaitan, Hawalli, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Mahboula) as workers in these areas are waiting for isolation to be removed and go back to their work, also due to factor how long the isolation will continue has kept them away from sending money to their families.

In the first two days since the exchange companies were allowed to operate on June 2, large queue was witnessed outside exchange companies, but it did not last long, due to the lack of savings owned by the majority of the expats there, mainly because of their companies had stopped operating and workers had little savings to spend on their needs for food and paying rents for their apartments.

Number of exchange shops, and the manager of the exchange branch in Farwaniya in the Bahrain Exchange Company, Hani Rafael, said, “As you can see, the majority of exchange shops suffer due to lack of activity since they were allowed to resume their activities, except for the first two days of the opening, where most of the shops witnessed a recovery. At one point, wondered during recession where do people come from with surplus funds to transfer at a time when the majority suffer from job losses.”

“There is a large sector of Farwaniya expats who work on daily wages this group has not made even one dinar since the beginning of the crisis, specifically since the imposition of the partial ban and then the total and finally regional isolation,” he expected, the shops will recover after people join their businesses and receive their salaries.

He explained that the savings owned by people are not enough for them until the ban is lifted, especially after they stopped working, so they are forced to keep them and not transfer them during the current period, which reflected negatively on the remittance market, hoping that the isolation situation will not last long enough.

For his part, Mahmoud Hussein, who is one of the employees of another Exchange Company in Kuwait, said, “Most of the region’s stores are in a stand still and this is a normal situation as a result of the effects of Corona and in light of the curfew that the region has been in for more than 3 months,” expecting the markets to start progressive recovery after the removal of the curfew from the region.

The situation of the few expats of Farwaniya, who were at exchange companies to transfer part of their savings to their families, was no better than the exchange shops, as most of them referred to the difficulties they face in light of the restrictions and the absence of normal life and their direct impact on the consequences of “Corona”.

Sabri Abu al-Shaarawi said, “My children and I have lived for 10 years in the region, and every month I have been transferring part of my salary to my father and brothers, but since the beginning of the Corona crisis, I only came today to send a very little part of what remains with me. The situation is very difficult, and we hope for the return of life as soon as God makes it to permit. ”

Many of their cases were very similar to the case of Abu al-Shaarawi, everyone suffers from a narrow situation, contented with converting the very easy part to their families, hoping for them to ease the situation after the lifting of the ban and the gradual return of life.

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