In surprising measures, similar to those applied with the rest of the Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia imposed customs duties on Kuwait’s exports entering the Kingdom.
A local Arabic daily has learned, from its sources, that the Kuwaiti authorities concerned with the industrial sector held several meetings adopted by the Ministry of Finance, to discuss these measures, revealing that the Minister of Finance visited Riyadh to discuss with his Saudi counterpart in this regard, and they reached a deadline to re-examine the issue, as he addressed the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mohammed Al-Sager, his counterpart in the Kingdom, to cancel these fees.
The sources said that the “Finance” met with the relevant parties, along with the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to discuss these measures, indicating that the Federation of Kuwaiti Industries sent an urgent letter to the industrial establishments exporting to Saudi Arabia to collect their data so that the “Finance” could discuss how to coordinate with its Saudi counterpart, and knowing how to deal with the situation in the event the procedure continues, postponed or canceled.
She indicated that the union questioned the percentage of customs duties imposed on products in accordance with the recent procedures, the annual exports to Saudi Arabia of the total annual production, the value of the expected annual damage in dinars, in addition to the value of annual exports to the Kingdom in dinars, while industrialists discussed the continued imposition of these fees.
And whether they can compensate for it from alternative markets, and will the Ministry of Commerce take into account those fees with factories? Will you release prices in the local market? Will there be compensation for local factories if they lose in exchange for these fees?
The sources indicated that the procedures should have alternatives, indicating that there is more than one body dealing with the issue, including the Ministries of Finance and Commerce and the Public Authority for Industry.
