SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 THULHIJA 5, 1435 AH www.kuwaittimes.net AWI chief US-led raids Clooneys Europe defeats Lang in hit jihadist oil show off rings USA by five Kuwait on as Qaeda after ‘perfect’ to retain cultural5 visit vows reprisals7 wedding40 Ryder18 Cup MoI takes action against Max 40º Min 23º cop for mistreating expat High Tide 01:50 & 15:18 Low Tide Dashti in hot water over anti-Bahrain comments 08:57 & 20:59 40 PAGES NO: 16300 150 FILS By B Izzak and Hanan Al-Saadoun that exist between Bahrain and Kuwait. conspiracy theories Ghanem’s statements came after strong KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has comments against Bahrain posted by decided to interrogate a police officer for Dashti on his Twitter account triggered Why the surplus? abuse of power against an expatriate resi- strong reactions from several MPs who dent. The move by the ministry came as a demanded that the lawmaker be referred video was posted on social media show- to the public prosecution for legal action. ing a policeman mistreating a resident, the Dahsti, a Shiite lawmaker, has been issu- ministry said in a statement, blasting such ing statements in support of the Shiite a “misconduct that marks an individual protests against the Bahraini monarchy. By Badrya Darwish case”. “The Ministry of Interior Over the weekend, he rejects such an act against expressed confidence that citizens and residents,” it said, Bahraini Shiites will be victo- warning that necessary rious and that “invaders” will action would be taken go. [email protected] against the police officer MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji yes- once relevant investigations terday asked the foreign min- are over. ister why the ministry has eading the financial report released by NBK Separately, National taken no action against on the government’s finances and budget Assembly Speaker Marzouq Dashti for his offensive for the fiscal year 2013/2014, I don’t see any- Al-Ghanem said yesterday remarks against Bahrain. R that Kuwait-Bahrain relations Turaiji asked why the ministry thing interesting or different from the previous are historical and deep-root- failed to take action against years. Except one thing that caught my eye. ed and cannot be affected by the lawmaker although he Allocated budgets were not spent, amazingly. personal statements follow- publicly insulted and abused When I looked at the overall expenditure, public ing demands by a number of Abdulhameed Dashti the people and rulers of salaries took a little over a quarter of the budget. MPs for action against MP Bahrain. Responding to accu- Public salaries are those of civil servants at all min- Abdulhameed Dashti for statements sations against him, Dashti said yesterday istries, hospitals, firefighters, teachers, nurses, deemed offensive to the Gulf state. that he agrees with the statements of the municipality workers, immigration officers, etc, Ghanem said that any statements issued Assembly speaker on Bahrain that “what I etc. The other big expenditure was services and by individuals or MPs against any country expressed were my personal views”. But he goods which took about 17 percent. And then are their personal views and do not repre- added that he is a rights activist and those sent anyone else or the National Assembly. calling for legal action against him are about 8.1 percent was spent on projects, mainte- KUWAIT: A policeman is seen hitting an expat made to do pushups in this image nance and so called-land purchases. But where I He insisted that such personal views will “ignorant”. taken from a video circulating on social media. never impact the solid relations at all levels Continued on Page 13 have no idea - inside or outside Kuwait. The most intriguing part of the report is that half the budget expenditures - 50 percent nearly - Gulf electricity grid looks to expand went for so called miscellaneous and transfers. (Transfers included money budgeted to PIFSS, mil- ABU DHABI: A unified Gulf Arab electricity ing the grid, he said. That works out at up itary salaries, fuel subsidies, transfers overseas and grid created to share capacity in emergen- to $420 million. other items). But what’s miscellaneous? Usually cies is set for expansion by 2019 with an GCC member states - Kuwait, Saudi Budget surplus up miscellaneous in any budget on earth is the small- estimated investment of up to $420 mil- Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab est slice of the pie, the least significant. Even in lion due to rising consumption, an official Emirates and Oman -are all part of the ordinary companies, miscellaneous would never of the overseeing authority said yesterday. grid. They shared the cost of constructing as spending slows represent the major chunk of your budget. Except Officials also said they were looking to link the grid based on the benefits they would in Kuwait. the grid to Egypt, and to Europe via accrue from it. Each state maintains a min- KUWAIT: Kuwait’s budget surplus edged percent of GDP in 2019, the International Or maybe the government is saving the surplus Turkey. The grid has been working since imal reserve level in the grid to support up to KD 12.9 billion ($44.8 billion) in the Monetary Fund estimated in April. Total 2009 with trading touching the equivalent one another in times of emergencies. The for the future generations? Imagine if you owned a fiscal year to last March as government expenditure fell 2.1 percent from the of 800,000 megawatt-hours annually, said usage has varied from state to state spending fell, largely because of a drop previous year to KD 18.9 billion in the company and your accountant came to you and Ahmed Al-Ebrahim, chief operating officer depending on their needs, but the showed you the budget report with the miscella- in capital expenditure, finance ministry 2013/14 fiscal year, to well below the KD of the Dammam-based Gulf Cooperation biggest was when a state faced a deficit of data showed. The figures suggest Kuwait 21.0 billion originally planned, the data neous expenses making up 50 percent of the Council Interconnection Authority 3,000 MW, he said, declining to name the is still struggling to spend its oil wealth showed. budget! You know guys, I would sack him immedi- (GCCIA). country. “More than 1,100 emergency sit- on economic development because of Public wages, which account for more ately and call the police. “In around five years in 2019 we will uations have been faced in the past five bureaucratic red tape and political con- than a quarter of current spending, con- Let’s forget the miscellaneous and instead ask need to expand the grid as consumption years in which there would have been flict between the Cabinet and parlia- tinued to grow, adding 4.3 percent to KD why did we have a surplus? Do you know that this is increasing around 6 to 10 percent a power cuts if it weren’t for the grid,” said ment, which has slowed big infrastruc- 5.0 billion, although the increase was the was the 19th consecutive year of having a budget year,” he told reporters. “We have started Ebrahim. ture projects. The budget surplus, equiv- slowest in over a decade, National Bank surplus? Aren’t we a lucky nation? Other govern- initial studies for it and we hope to start Electricity demand in the Gulf states alent to around 26 percent of gross of Kuwait economists Dana Al-Fakir and ments all over the world - you will see them always the project soon. The study will be com- peaks in the summer months of June- domestic product, was up marginally Nemr Kanafani said in a research note. suffering from deficits for consecutive years and plete in around two years.” The current August, while there is surplus power dur- from KD 12.7 billion, or nearly 25 percent Meanwhile, spending on projects, main- total capacity of the Gulf Cooperation ing the rest of the year which can be of GDP, in the previous fiscal year. tenance and land purchases dropped 7.3 years. So we are a privileged nation. Council (GCC) grid is 1,200 MW, the maxi- exported outside the region. The intercon- But why do we have budget surpluses? Is the Kuwait has posted budget surpluses percent to KD 1.5 billion, which the ana- mum power that can be transferred to nection will also enable the six Gulf states since 1995 but its rising public sector lysts said was partly due to slow progress country perfect? We don’t need any repairs? Any any country at any time. The cost of to establish an energy trading market and streets? Any flyovers? Any schools? Any hospitals? wage bill and large subsidies are expect- in the government’s development plans. expansion could be about 20 or 30 per- in the long term link with Europe, he said. ed to slash the surplus to around 12.1 Continued on Page13 Airports? Metro? All is well, so we have a surplus? cent of the initial $1.4 billion cost of build- Continued on Page 13 What is a surplus, but extra money we didn’t use. Then why is the government moaning about high salaries and subsidies? If you have extra, then I’m Tweet confirms Kuwaiti sorry, you can afford it. I used to criticize the parliamentarians when Qaeda chief Fadhli dead they were demanding child benefits and scrap- ping the debts of Kuwaitis. And my God, parlia- DUBAI: A jihadist Twitter account said US officials have described Khorasan ment came after parliament and we didn’t see any the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked as a network of seasoned Al-Qaeda fight- improvement.