Kuwaitis standard of living won’t be touched: Speaker – ‘Fuel deal can still be challenged’

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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 6, (KUNA): National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim stressed on Wednesday that the government and the parliament are committed to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s directives and not to touch Kuwaitis’ standard of living.

The legislative and executive powers are committed to His Highness the Amir’s clear directives to make sure that any measure to reduce budget deficit would not impact standard of living of Kuwaitis, Al-Ghanim said in a press conference following a joint meeting for the parliament and the government to reach a compromise on the recent fuel price rises. He pointed out that the compromise reached between the parliament and the government today would lower the fuel budget for Kuwaitis and the save the state budget millions of dinars.

As per the agreement, every national who has driving license would get 75 liters of 91-octine petrol free of charge every month, nearly 30 percent of the consumption, he said. Al-Ghanim noted that a special subsidy committee would review fuel prices and the fuel subsidy offered to nationals to offset the price increases on a monthly basis.

The committee would also increase the amount of subsidized fuel in case of new price rises, he said. He noted that the deal would help secure millions of dinars and reduce the state budget deficit.

The top lawmaker unveiled that the Ministry of Finance is studying a number of options regarding the subsidy distribution techniques.

On the effects of the fuels rises on the prices of other products, he stated that the ministry of the commerce is monitoring markets and would take decisive actions against greedy traders who seek to exploit the time to make unjustifiable prices surges.

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