Kuwaitis have elected 27 new deputies to represent them in 50-member 2022 National Assembly, and the change rate is 54 percent and although it is a high percentage, equivalent to the change rate in the 1999 elections and less than the change rate during the 2020 elections which was 62% and less than the percentage in the 2012 annulled Parliament elections that was almost 78%, it is believed the economic issues may not be a priority because three-quarters of the new MPs are former parliamentarians for whom economic reforms were not important as a group.
Also, the new deputies may not be among their priorities to engage in unpopular issues, of course; and whether economic issues are a priority or not, the most important economic and financial files must be mentioned and perhaps they will become important in the eyes of parliamentarians, the government, and even citizens, reports a local Arabic daily.
The following are the most prominent issues among them:
1 – To address the decline in the credit rating, the public debt law must be passed with terms not exceeding 10 years, and the law regulating the withdrawal from the future generation reserve fund in the event of a deficit with a maximum limit that guarantees a continuous growth of the future generation reserve and does not cause a decrease in its assets.
Add to this an orderly withdrawal from the Future Generation Fund which would reduce asset growth, but not cause it to decline.
2 – In order to reduce the costs of providing housing for citizens and for the state as well, the philosophy of housing distribution to citizens must be changed from vacant plots of lands, a loan and a grant to ready-made model homes that are built by the government or a real estate developer that guarantees their quality and protects citizens from building more than their needs and ensuring that they are not exposed to exploitation by contractors.
3 – Rejection of the value-added and selective tax, because its rejection makes Kuwait more attractive commercially, as this would reduce inflation relative to the rest of the GCC countries that approved this tax.
4 – Separation of insurance funds so that there are special funds for government employees and others for private sector employees so that it would then be possible to give special retirement benefits to private sector employees that would make it more attractive to citizens instead of the current situation that integrates employees of an employer into the same funds, whether they are employees in the government or in the private sector.
5 – Encouraging the Central Bank of Kuwait to raise the value of the dinar against the dollar to absorb inflation, since the Kuwaiti dinar is linked to a basket of currencies whose main objective is to reduce inflation.
6 – Approval of an increase in the cost of living allowance to 250 dinars instead of 120 dinars for the benefit of all workers in the government and in the private sector and even retirees to face the high prices, and increasing it such a manner that it benefits more the low salaried Kuwaitis and pensioners because the increase will represent a greater percentage of their income monthly.
7 – In order to achieve greater economic growth, it is necessary to increase the number of expatriates, as shown by the experiences of other GCC countries. This means torpedoing the issue of completely modifying the demographic structure and canceling health, energy and water subsidies for expatriates, and making the employer bear these costs so that the increase in the number of expatriates does not become a financial burden on the state.
8 – Agreeing on an economic identity based on competition with other GCC countries in attracting foreign investments, capital and tourists, with full awareness of the sacrifices required to achieve these aspirations.
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