Al-Ujairi Scientific Center announced that the first day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah for this year will be Thursday, June 30, and that Saturday, July 9, is expected to be the first day of Eid Al- Adha, reports Al-Rai daily. The center said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) today, Tuesday, that Friday, July 8, will be the day of Standing on the Arafat, adding that the time for Eid prayer is at 5:10 am Kuwait local time.

On this gracious occasion, Al-Ujairi Scientific Center offers its warmest congratulations and blessings to His Highness the Amir of the country, His Highness the Crown Prince and the honorable Kuwaiti people.

The US State Department in its updated advisory has cautioned Americans travelling to Kuwait, about the health situation in Kuwait about the spread of “Covid- 19”, to stay away from border areas with Iraq and to take extra precaution if travelling to Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, reports Al-Rai daily. The advisory is based on an announcement made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that Kuwait has a high level of corona, and that they must remain vigilant in the places they visit especially places frequented by large groups of people, travelers or tourists.”

The advisory requires its citizens to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and facilitate location identification in the event of an emergency, and that US citizens traveling abroad should always have a contingency plan in place for emergencies.

The advisory warns its citizens against going to the desert area near the border with Iraq due to the spread of unexploded ordnance at Level 4. The warning stated: “Do not travel, as the desert areas and some beaches north of the Al Mutla’a mountain range continue to contain the remaining unexploded ordnance from the 1990-1991 Gulf War. People should avoid areas off the beaten path and avoid touching objects likely to be unexploded ordnance.”

 The Residency Affairs Sector next week will submit to the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmed Al- Nawaf, a new mechanism to organize the issuance of family and tourist visit visas, following the abrupt decision to stop issuing these visas Monday, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Informed security sources told the daily, the residence affairs sector is considering raising the salary ceiling for expatriates who want to bring their wife and children on visit or family visas to 300 dinars minimum and 600 dinars minimum if the applicant wants to bring his parents on visit visa. The sources indicated that the new mechanism will grant broad powers to directors of residency affairs departments in the six governorates, to ease the pressure on the General Administration of Residency Affairs in the Dajeej area, where the number of visitors during the last period reached about one thousand per day due to the withdrawal of the powers of directors of departments.

The sources indicated that Minister Al-Nawaf’s decision to stop family and tourist visits came against the background of receiving complaints about the failure to organize the work mechanism for granting family and tourist visit visas to expatriates.

The sources added, however: “The proposal for a salary cap as a condition for allowing the issuance of visit visas can be increased or decreased according to the Ministry’s vision.” However, the Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources said the decision Minister Al- Nawaf, to stop tourist and family visas, came because people who entered the country during the past months have not left the country and this raised the number of violators by about 20,000.

The Ministry of Interior announced, stopping the issuance of family and tourist visit visas until further notice is to prepare a new mechanism what the ministry called ‘development of work’, while the sources stated that the decision “does not include electronic visas that are granted directly to some nationalities upon arrival at the airport.

The sources indicated “the number of expatriates who entered the country on tourist and family visas during 2022 reached about 70,000,” noting that work is being done to establish a strict mechanism and controls that guarantee the visitor’s departure upon the expiry of visa, as well as not allowing the extension of the visit period which is for 3 months.

The total compensation paid by insurance companies to the insured in Kuwait during the year 2021 exceeded KD 384 million. The number of insurance policies in the country for the same year amounted to about 1.404 million. This means that the average value of insurance paid for each policy in the country amounts to about KD 273, reports Al- Anba daily. According to statistical data obtained by the daily, the total compensation paid to the insured in car accidents during the past year amounted to more than KD 57 million, which were paid to about KD 959,400 insurance policy holders qualitatively. Thus, car insurance accounts for about 15 percent of the total insurance compensation paid in the country during the year.

Comprehensive
Comprehensive car insurance accounted for about 73 percent of the total compensation paid for car accidents, at KD 41.86 million, for about KD 217,890 comprehensive insurance policies in the country. Compulsory insurance (against third parties) acquired the remaining percentage of the compensation, as its value amounted to about KD 15.14 million for about KD 741,540 insurance policies against third parties in the country.

The total life insurance compensation disbursed in Kuwait during the past year amounted to about KD 47 million, as the total number of policies for this type of insurance in 2021 reached 18,381 policies, including 6,617 group life insurance policies, and 11,764 individual life insurance policies. The total compensation paid in 2021 amounted to about KD 46.8 million, including KD 45.59 million for group life insurance policies, and KD 1.23 million for individual life insurance policies. The total premiums in 2021 amounted to about KD 57.5 million, including KD 47 million for group life insurance policies, and KD 10.5 million for individual policies. In terms of health insurance, it accounted for about 59 percent of the compensation paid to the total insured in the country.

The total compensation paid to the holders of about 5,481 health insurance policies amounted to KD 226.3 million during the year 2021. It is worth highlighting that about 60 percent of the total compensation was paid by one company, which paid KD 136.48 million. Another company paid about KD 40 million of the rest of the compensation, and a third company paid about KD 8.5 million in compensation for health insurance policies.

The travel insurance paid to the insured recorded a very low rate, as it amounted to only 0.165 percent of the total compensation in the insurance sector, amounting to KD 643,470, despite the increase in the number of travel insurance policies and the registration of an average of about KD 296,150 policies in the year 2021. As for the marine and aviation insurance policies, their number during 2021 amounted to 66,440 different insurance policies.

The value of compensation paid to the insured during the past year amounted to about 1.66 percent of the total compensation disbursed in the sector, at a value of KD 6.39 million. The total compensation paid to the insured against fire incidents in Kuwait during 2021 amounted to about KD 11 million. The total number of fire insurance policies in Kuwait reached about 14,880 policies, including 2,163 policies issued by foreign insurance companies, and 12,720 policies from Kuwaiti insurance companies. The total premiums paid during 2021 amounted to about KD 43.7 million, of which KD 40.24 million were paid to insurance policies of local companies, and about KD 3.46 million to insurance policies of foreign companies

Compensation
Also, the compensation paid during 2021 recorded about KD 10.72 million, including KD 1.39 million in compensation paid by foreign insurance companies, and KD 9.33 million in compensation paid by local insurance companies. The insured under the classification of insurance against other accidents accounted for about 9.4 percent of the total insurance compensation disbursed in Kuwait during the past year, at a rate of KD 36.13 million during the year. The number of insurance policies against other accidents amounted to KD 43,740 policies during 2021.

Kuwait is ranked 131st worldwide on the Mercer Cost of Living Index for expats, and seventh in the Gulf region, out of 227 cities around the world, despite a rise in inflation in Kuwait and around the world that has made expat workers increasingly worried about their purchasing power. Kuwait City is the second cheapest Gulf city behind Doha, Qatar, which is eighth in the Gulf and 133rd worldwide.

Hong Kong, Zurich and Geneva are the top three most expensive cities for foreign workers, with Basel fourth, Bern fifth, and New York and Singapore in seventh and eighth spots respectively, followed by Tokyo and Beijing. The Mercer index reflects issues that have an effect on the lives of expat workers worldwide. The return of high inflation all over the world has made expat workers worried over their purchasing power, which led them to expect an increase in their salaries.

In the Arab world, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the 31st and 61st most expensive cities for foreign workers, followed by Riyadh in 103rd place, Jeddah (111), Manama (117), Muscat in 119th place, Doha (133), Cairo (154), Rabat (162) and Tunis in the 220th spot. Ankara is the least expensive city on the list in 227th place, while Bishkek is 226th, Dushanbe (225), Islamabad and Karachi 224th and 223rd respectively, Istanbul 222nd and Tashkent in the 221st spot.

 Beginning July 3, the Central Bank of Kuwait requires all banks operating in Kuwait including the money exchange companies to provide it with the data of remittances and cash deposits from and to Kuwait on a daily basis, specifically if the value of transaction is more than 3,000 dinars or more or its equivalent in other currencies, reports Al- Rai daily.

In this regard, financial sources told the daily that the exchange companies are issued instructions to provide the CBK complete data of financial transactions as part of broader control efforts aimed at additional regulatory verification of the extent of commitment of these units to follow up on money transfers.

The sources noted that the CBK has circulated to the 32 exchange companies, that it has decided to establish a (TRS) database, to receive (FCT) data for the transactions that must be reported, and related to money transfers executed to Kuwait for the benefit of customers which are equal to or more than 3,000 dinars or its equivalent in foreign currencies per day per customer.

The new CBK decision was in effect until 2014 “after the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Unit”, when the sources reported that restoring the procedure again comes as a matter of supervisory concern to quickly benefit from the data required to be sent from banks and exchange companies according to the guideline in this particular. The CBK indicated in its circular that it was decided that receiving the required information (TRS) about the data related to this from (LCT) and (FCT) not later than 10:00 the following day for transactions that have been carried out the previous day, including holidays and official.

Verifying
The Central Bank also indicated in its circular that it seeks to double the oversight follow-up with the Financial Intelligence Unit, with the aim of verifying unusual financial transactions both ways to and from Kuwait, and that it plans to create more tools in this regard, which contribute to increasing the ability to query, follow-up, and analyze patterns and behavior for unusual operations.

For its part, sources close to the daily said they sought to decipher the Central Bank’s move in this direction, explaining that the regulator seeks to impose more comprehensive control over cash deposits and financial transfers to and from Kuwait. The sources indicated that some customers use more than one bank account in their daily transfers, and the same applies to exchange companies, in order to avoid falling into the trap of suspected violations of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing instructions and ease of distributing funds in more than one transaction.

Meanwhile, the sources reported that due to the absence of a unified control database, it is not possible to determine the safety of all financial transactions, and to ensure their regularity, the importance of providing the Central Bank with a daily statement showing the total cash transfers and deposits to and from Kuwait for the same customer daily from all outlets.

According to an ambitious strategy established by the bank's management to provide the best service to citizens in the simplest and easiest way possible, the Kuwait Credit Bank is the first government institution to be unique in providing its services through artificial intelligence technology, according to spokeswoman Habari Al-Khashti.

Al-Khashti emphasized that the bank's artificial intelligence technology services do not need customers to physically visit any of the bank's branches or to submit paperwork from various governmental agencies.

 A recent statistic issued by the labor market system, which is based on cooperation between the Central Administration of Statistics and the General Authority for Manpower, revealed an increase in the total number of workers entering the country in the first three months of 2022, reports Al-Qabas daily. The statistics, a copy of which has been obtained by the daily, showed that the total number of workers who entered the country in the first three months of this year was approximately 22,000 workers 88.9% of them domestic workers, specifically 19,532 of 6 nationalities — India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Benin and the Sudan.

The sources stated that new domestic workers from India make the highest number with a total of 11,591, followed by the Filipinos with 5,631, while the number of other nationalities did not exceed hundreds. The statistic showed a continuous decrease in employment in some nationalities topped by Nepal, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

Despite the increase in the total number of workers, the data contained in the statistics includes a continued decline in the number of workers under Article 18 by 50% among the top 9 countries exporting labor to Kuwait; the number of Indians decreased by 1,967 workers, followed by Egyptians by 1,415, then Filipinos and Bangladeshis. The number of Nepalese achieved a remarkable increase at the beginning of 2022, as their numbers rose to 2,447 workers, in addition to 354 Jordanians and 121 Syrians, and 4,697 Kuwaitis entered the labor market in the same period. Among those living the labor market the Iranians with topped the list while the Lebanese topped the list for new workers into Kuwait.

The first day of Dhu al-Hijjah will fall on Thursday, June 30, while the first day of Eid al-Adha will fall on Saturday, July 9, according to the Al-Ojiri Scientific Center. According to Kuwait City's local time, the Eid prayer begins at 5.10 am, according to the centre. 

The Competition Protection Authority (CPA) has summoned for interrogation a number of exchange companies, against the background of allegations that they have concluded a collective agreement to unify the prices of remittances according to rates agreed upon daily, and this includes the exchange rate margin of their converted currencies, reports Al-Rai daily. Reliable sources from the authority said it constitutes a violation of the provisions of the device law.

In the event that the accusations against them are proven, these companies will face penalties in accordance with the “Competition Protection” law, starting with a warning, and up to a fine of 10 percent of their profits achieved throughout the implementation period of their agreement. It is reported, according to the open investigation in this regard, that 12 exchange companies have resorted, since the start of the repercussions of the corona pandemic, to regulate competition between them, with an amicable understanding contract that requires the implementation of their transfers at a unified price, and this includes the exchange rate of currencies transferred in their operations, with the aim of getting rid of unhealthy competition, which sometimes reached offering prices devour returns.

This agreement obligates all its members to set the price on a daily basis, without allowing any reduction in value, regardless of the weight of the customer, the size of his transfers and his history with the company. Sources close to the exchange companies pointed out that their understanding in this regard does not contradict the “Competition Protection” law for more than one reason, noting that the two ‘mutualists’ are 12 companies, while there are about 200 companies and exchange institutions that did not participate in this agreement, as they decided to work alone by determining its profit margin from remittances, and while doing so, it provided lower price levels than those traded with counter-party companies. She stated that about 35 companies are working in the local exchange market, subject to the supervision of the Central Bank of Kuwait, not all of them agreed on this understanding, which shows that the agreement is not binding.

Al-Rai newspaper reported that Dr. Youssef Behbehani, a senior specialist in internal medicine, nephrology, and blood pressure, is the largest organ donor in Kuwait. In the presence of Kuwait University's Acting Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Dr. Maha Al-Sijari, he spoke during a symposium at the College of Social Sciences at Kuwait University.

Dr. Youssef Behbehani said that Indians are the most common nationality to donate organs after death in Kuwait, followed by Filipinos, and then Bangladeshis.

Donors of organs are separated into two categories: living donors, who can donate specific organs, and deceased donors, whose organs may be healthy and may be able to save up to eight lives.

In 1979, Kuwait was the first country in the Gulf region to conduct a kidney transplant.

On Sunday, Kuwait International Fairgrounds in Mishref opened its fifth Centre for Expatriates Examination. A ceremony was held to inaugurate the center by Health Minister Khaled Al-Saeed. The center can accommodate 1,000 people daily.

The ministry is continuing its efforts to reduce pressure on existing centers by opening a new center. Approximately 500 people can wait in the waiting area. It has 10 registration counters. The hospital also has 20 clinics for blood testing and four x-ray rooms. 160 personnel work at the center, including doctors, nurses, radiologists, and administrators. 12 hours are worked each day at the center.

The Ministry of Interior on directives of his excellency the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lieutenant-General Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawaf  issued notice to stop issuing visit visas for Family and Tourism from today until further notice due to new mechanism is to be introduced by Residency Affairs department. 

When compared with the same period in 2021, when it was around 23 million dinars, Kuwait's sales of tourism and travel agencies than doubled, reaching approximately 112 million dinars.

There are 430 travel offices in Kuwait, according to sources who spoke to a local Arabic newspaper. They noted that the increase in sales is due to the tourism and travel industry's recovery, the lifting of travel restrictions that had been put in place at most international locations following the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the desire of citizens and residents to travel again after a protracted break.

According to the same sources, Kuwaitis most frequently go to Turkey, Dubai, and different European nations, whereas most locals spend their summer vacations in their home country.The sales in February 2022 climbed by about 5.5 times to 22 million dinars from 3.36 million dinars in the same month of 2021. Additionally, it increased by 3.2 times last May to 27.74 million compared to 6.59 million in the same month of 2021, and by 5.1 times in April to 24.27 million compared to 3.96 million.

Engineer Saad Al-Otaibi, the Director-General of Civil Aviation's spokesperson and the Deputy Director-General for Planning and Projects Affairs, claimed that the country's epidemiological situation and the lifting of international travel bans would result in a daily passenger volume that exceeded everyone's expectations in the summer of 2022 and return to pre-Corona levels.

Between June 1 and September 30, he said, there would be a projected flow of around 6 million passengers, evenly split between arrivals and departures. Al-Otaibi stated that around 43,000 flights will transfer this enormous number of travellers to various locations, with 22,000 outgoing flights and approximately 21,000 arriving flights.

For some time now, banks have been witnessing a silent struggle to attract national labor, especially the most sought-after, which led to the introduction of sometimes undeserved adjustments to the salary scale granted to citizens, in an attempt to maintain the targeted national labor rates and raise the efficiency of their competition locally, reports Al-Rai daily. In this regard, banking said the demand for banking and financial services employees, and specialists in technology and automation work, has generally doubled, during the recent period, driven by an increase in the need for them more than ever, while the job of the head of the strategic planning and follow-up unit at the bank is especially important, with the Central Bank of Kuwait obligating banks to establish a unit headed by a Kuwaiti.

What increased the importance of this job segment was the rapid efforts of banks to shift towards digitalization, and to expand locally in the application of governance, at a time when it was noticed that these vacancies were few compared to what was required of them to the extent that could enable banks to maintain their competitive capabilities ignited in Kuwait.

Kuwaitization
The sources indicated that the banking policy makers are ready to pay high salaries to Kuwaiti employees to ensure that their institutions are provided with the largest amount necessary funds to conduct their businesses, and to enhance their superiority in banking competition over Kuwaitization. The sources put the total banking sector employees at about 16,500, while the announced data indicated that the average percentage of national employment in all local banks rose from 34.9% in 2000 to 76% at the end of 2021, and the total national workforce working in Kuwaiti banks increased from 1,543 workers in 2000 to 9,859 by the end of 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 9.2%, while the total national employment in foreign bank branches increased from 112 workers in 2008 to 312 by the end of 2021. The number of Kuwaiti women working in the banking sector is 4,074 constituting 82.3 percent of the number of women working in the sector, and their number in Kuwaiti banks is 3,970 out of 4,810 female workers, or 82.5 percent.

The sources noted that some banks have recently resorted to offering generous offers to employees of other banks, especially Kuwaitis and that this behavior has recently grown, especially with regard to the jobs that are most in demand, in an attempt to lure more employees to fill their vacancies. The sources indicated that this situation led to rapid transfers between bank employees, specifically Kuwaitis, to the extent that some of them only continued in their job for a few months before moving to work in another bank, with a higher name and salary, although their job experience is usually less than the title they got, as well as the salary.

On the other hand, and during their competition for the ‘ghutra and iqal’, some banks are compelled to expose themselves to several risks, perhaps the most prominent of which is the loss of job loyalty, as the leakage of their employees increases to get a quick career leap in their career, which contributes to impeding the growth of human wealth to the hoped-for limits. One of the paradoxes of this case is that the demand for unskilled labor has not actually declined, but rather progressed in a number of areas. Some analyzes attribute the reason for this discrepancy to the increase in the functional value of the Kuwaiti component in banks.

 Employees at the Security and Firefighting Unit in Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) have been exempted from the English language test condition for promotion, reports Al-Rai daily. This came after the Labor Union at the company pointed out that knowledge of the English language was a prerequisite in the recruitment of the above mentioned employees, in addition to the training courses they need to complete throughout the service period.

A member of the union, Jadaan Abdullah Al-Mutairi, revealed to the daily that “more than 1,200 workers in the unit will benefit from the decision to cancel the English test condition for promotion.” He pointed out this is a remarkable achievement by all standards, considering that KOC gave its subsidiaries the freedom to implement what they deem appropriate in terms of promotions based on the nature of the business of each subsidiary. He affirmed the special nature of the functions of the Security and Firefighting Unit as it is the first line of defense, security and precaution against theft and tampering whether inside or outside the fields.

A new fleet of buses was inaugurated and a new logo was launched by Kuwait Public Transport Company (KPTC) on the occasion of its 60th anniversary.

KPTC CEO Mansour Al-Saad said the new logo is intended to emphasize and meet all customers' aspirations and needs by better expressing our advanced services.

In today's announcement, the company announces the launch of a new fleet of buses with the best technological specifications, which he hopes will meet the needs and expectations of customers, meet the highest safety and comfort standards, and keep pace with technological advancements.

The Indian Embassy in Kuwait will be holding an open house on Wednesday, 29 June 2022 at 6 pm with Indian Ambassador Shri Sibi George regarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the recruitment of domestic workers signed between India and Kuwait in June 2021, which has now been implemented.

A legal framework has now been established for India's domestic workers in Kuwait, allowing them to streamline their recruitment and benefit from legal protection. Employer and Domestic Workers are both guaranteed rights and obligations by an Employment Contract, including a mechanism that guarantees 24 hour assistance to Domestic Workers. There is also provision for the establishment of a Joint Committee to monitor the MoU's implementation and conduct periodic reviews and assessments.

The Open House is open to all Indian nationals living in Kuwait.

Those who wish to raise specific concerns may send their questions in advance by email to amboff.kuwait@mea.gov.in along with their full name as it appears in passport, passport number, civil identification number, contact number, and address in Kuwait.