Inflation moderate, says CBK … better than elsewhere; ‘Prices not fully under local control’
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KUWAIT CITY, Dec 1: In response to the queries of MP Osama Al-Zaid, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) explained that the inflation rate in the country is affected by global markets and the international growth of imported commodities. The Central Bank added that it is not fully capable of controlling prices in the local market, revealing the inflation rate reached 4.71 percent in April 2022 and then it went down to 3.19 percent in September. It added these inflation rates are relatively moderate compared to that of other countries.
According to CBK, the trade surplus or positive trade balance increased from KD3,781 million in 2020 to KD9,424 million in 2021 or 149 percent increase as a result of the oil price hike. MP Essa Al-Kandari has submitted a bill on amending the following articles of Handicapped Law No. 8/2010: Article 25: A new clause is added to allow assigning two individuals to take care of a handicapped if the disability is severe and permanent.
Article 41: Military personnel with medium disability are entitled to pension equal to full salary if they spent 15 years in service, while those with severe disabilities will receive the same pension if they spent 10 years in service. In all cases, the age condition for retirement is not applied.
Article 42: Without prejudice to the regulations of the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS), employees taking care of a person with medium disability are entitled to pension equal to full salary if they have been in service for 15 years and 10 years for those taking care of a person with severe disability.
The age condition for retirement is not applied as long as the beneficiaries meet the aforementioned conditions. Al-Kandari disclosed the bill is aimed at ensuring gender equality among beneficiaries, indicating the existing law states that employees taking care of a handicapped with medium disability are entitled to pension equal to their full salary if they spent 20 years in service for men and 15 years for women; while his proposal is 15 years for both genders. He added the existing law states that employees taking care of a handicapped with severe and permanent disability must have 15-year service for men and 10- year service for women in order to receive pension equal to full salary.
On the other hand, MP Thamer Al-Suwait asked Minister of Public Works, Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy Amani Bugamaz about the names and number of applicants for supervisory positions who took the written exams at Kuwait University on Oct 16, 2021. He requested for copies of the exam results, vacancies that have been filled and cost of conducting the exams. He also inquired if all those appointed to supervisory positions passed the exams. MP Shuaib Shaaban has forwarded queries to Minister of Defense Sheikh Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah about the legal basis used in laying down the regulations for the encashment of the unused leave days of officers and non-ranking officers. He asked why the officers must have been in service for five years to cash their unused leave days, as well as the rationale behind the exclusion of the members of liaison offices and military missions from such benefit.
MP Khalid Al-Omaira asked Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Communications and Information Technology Affairs Mazen Al-Nahed to provide him with copies of the decree issued in August 2022 on the formation of the Board of Directors of Communications and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA), curricula vitae of the board members, their jobs in the last five years prior to their appointment to the board, if any of them are board members in other institutions, and if Article five of the law on establishing CITRA is enforced in terms of preventing conflict of interests. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff
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