The core question is: Why suspend the national labor subsidy for citizens employed by struggling companies? Unlike expatriate workers who usually receive housing, meals and living essentials from their employers, enabling them to send most of their earnings abroad, Kuwaiti citizens rely on their income to support their families. All their earnings are spent locally to cover vital needs, such as healthcare, education and household expenses. While no one questions the right of foreign workers to remit their salaries, withholding subsidies from citizens causes severe financial distress over conditions completely outside their control.
Your Excellency, the financial strain affecting about 10,000 companies, which hindered them to disburse salaries on time, is due to disruptions and economic fallout brought about by conflicts beyond their control. The delayed state disbursements for these companies hindered them from fulfilling payroll commitments to their employees. Before arriving at any decision, this situation must be assessed carefully, taking into consideration the unique circumstances of each affected firm.
We commend your instruction to the director general of the Public Authority for Manpower to schedule a meeting with business owners to look into their difficulties and find plausible solutions, such meeting has yet to happen. Resolving operational issues necessitates a strategic governmental vision in order to address the root causes of the crisis. The major barrier to settling corporate dues is the prevalence of acting supervisory personnel in state bodies.
Since they have no authority and often fear personal liability, these officials usually hesitate to approve ministry expenditures.
The current situation in Kuwait is similar to that of neighboring countries in the region. The neighboring countries took proactive measures to help their citizens, yet our country proceeds as though the global environment is static—ignoring the severe economic crisis weighing on everyone. Under these circumstances, penalizing businesses while withholding the national labor subsidy compromises their operational capacity. As noted from the beginning, we fully recognize your dedication to ensure equality and justice for everyone, which continues to be your highest priority. We earnestly ask you to review this decision, because suspending the national labor subsidy will only worsen the financial strain on citizens
