The Kuwait Investment Authority has informed the senior officials of the National Fund for the Development and Welfare of Small and Medium Enterprises that they will continue to stop receiving requests for financing new projects and that capital flows from the General Reserve Fund to Small and Medium Enterprises will not be increased during the coming period than previously planned.
The sources indicated that the response of the KIA came based on an inquiry from fund officials about the possibility of re-receiving new financing requests after a continuous hiatus since 2022, as it was confirmed that no new loans were granted to the initiators who were not contracted until further notice, specifically until the submission of a study that identifies the target segment – owners of SMEs — to be financed, and confirms the ability to follow up on the work of the initiators, reports Al-Rai daily.
The Authority confirmed the continuity of the contents of the correspondences that took place between the two parties, during which it referred to previous meetings that were held between its officials and the fund’s management to discuss financial obligations and the financial statements of the National Fund from June 30, 2020, through which it was found that the default rate during the period before the Corona pandemic, reached 60 percent.
On a related note, KIA officials have asked the SMEs officials to provide them with the financial position of the fund as of Dec 31, 2022, the amount of urgent and due financial obligations to date, in addition to the cash payments expected to be paid and received during 2023, and the number of contracts actually signed with the initiators and the percentage of defaulters after the Corona pandemic.