Kuwait Calls for Gulf Reforms As Oil Declines
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SUBSCRIPTION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2014 MUHARRAM 2 , 1436 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Audit Bureau Two dead in Setback for Barca beaten finalizes US school City as West by Real report, finds shooting after Ham claim Madrid on violations4 online warnings7 shock18 win Suarez20 debut Kuwait calls for Gulf Max 33º Min 18º reforms as oil declines High Tide 00:23 & 13:52 GCC states risk deficit, warns IMF chief Low Tide 07:29 & 19:29 40 PAGES NO: 16323 150 FILS KUWAIT: Gulf Arab oil exporters will have to reform their state spending and make cuts in some areas Central Bank because of weak oil prices, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh said yesterday. “We must undertake com- prehensive economic reforms including the reform of to cut bad imbalances in public finances,” Saleh told a meeting of Gulf Arab finance ministers, central bank governors and loans to 2% the International Monetary Fund in Kuwait. “This must be undertaken through strengthening of efforts to KUWAIT: The Central Bank aims to cut the bad loan diversify away from oil and decrease dependence on oil ratio among Kuwaiti commercial banks to below 3 revenue, which is now inevitable.” percent of total loans by the end of this year from 3.2 Global oil prices tumbled to four-year lows below percent at present, Central Bank Governor $83 per barrel this month, threatening - if current levels Mohammad Al-Hashel said on Friday. Hashel, speak- are sustained for a long period - to push the state budg- ing to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of cen- ets of some of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation tral bankers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council into deficit after several years of big surpluses. Council, said he wanted the ratio to fall further to 2 The IMF has estimated Saudi Arabia will need an aver- percent by the end of 2015. age oil price of $90.70 a barrel in 2015 to balance its In the last couple of years, many banks have made budget; the United Arab Emirates would face a level of considerable progress cleaning up their balance $73.30, Kuwait $53.30 and Qatar $77.60. Oman and sheets. “The banks are working hard to reduce this fig- Bahrain need much higher budget break-even prices. ure,” Hashel said. “I have a goal, God willing, that the A sustained oil price decline of $25 in effect reduces banks should cut this ratio to below 3 percent this the revenue of most GCC countries by the equivalent of year...and God willing, it should fall to the level of 2 about 8 percentage points of gross domestic product, percent by the end of 2015.” Big provisions for bad and could therefore push many of them into fiscal loans taken by Kuwaiti banks in the past few years deficits, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said. “That’s why it is have limited profits distributed to shareholders. “We important to address the fiscal situation now, although do not want more provisions, but prudence requires clearly the GCC countries have the buffers to fiscally and us to take provisions to the extent necessary,” Hashel KUWAIT: Finance Minister Anas A-Saleh cuts a ribbon next to International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing financially resist the consequences of such a situation,” said, adding: “Don’t overdo it.” — Reuters (See Page 3) Director Christine Lagarde during a ceremony to inaugurate the Middle East Center for Economics and she told a news conference after the meeting. Finance (CEF) yesterday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat (See Page 3) Continued on Page 13 Iran hangs woman for Sinai in lockdown after killing alleged rapist TEHRAN: Iran yesterday hanged a fession to her crime was obtained bomb kills 30 soldiers woman convicted of murdering a for- under intense pressure and threats mer intelligence officer she claimed from Iranian prosecutors, and that she had tried to sexually assault her, defy- should have had a retrial. ing international appeals for a stay of Iranian actors and other prominent Sisi blames ‘foreign hands’ execution. Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, who figures had campaigned for clemency had been on death row for on Jabbari’s behalf, echo- five years, was put to death ing similar calls in the West. at dawn, the official IRNA The judiciary had given Israel troops news agency quoted the several deadlines for Tehran prosecutor’s office Sarbandi’s family to spare as saying. The execution Jabbari under an Islamic kill US teen drew condemnation from sharia law provision that the United States and allows a death sentence for in West Bank human rights monitor murder to be commuted to Amnesty International, jail time. But relatives of RAMALLAH: Washington confirmed Friday that a Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israeli troops was which dubbed it “a bloody Reyhaneh Jabbari Sarbandi, a 47-year-old stain on Iran’s human rights surgeon who earlier a US citizen - the second time this week an American record” and “an affront to justice”. worked for the intelligence ministry, child has fallen victim to the ongoing conflict. The A message posted on the home- refused the pleas, demanding, accord- army said that the youth killed Friday had been page of a Facebook campaign set up ing to Iranian media, that she tell “the about to hurl a petrol bomb at Israeli motorists near to try to save Jabbari noted the “sad truth”. the West Bank city of Ramallah. An army spokes- news” of her death, adding the words A UN human rights monitor said woman said troops posted at the village of Silwad to “Rest in Peace” alongside pictures of the killing came in self-defence after protect a major road widely used by Jewish settlers her as a young child. Jabbari, an interi- Sarbandi tried to sexually abuse in the occupied territory spotted a person about to or designer, was executed for the fatal Jabbari, and that the condemned hurl a petrol bomb. “The forces fired immediately to 2007 stabbing of Morteza Abdolali woman’s trial in 2009 had been deeply neutralise the danger... and confirmed a hit,” she Sarbandi. The United Nations and flawed. said. CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, surrounded by top military gener- human rights groups had said a con- Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 13 als, addresses journalists following an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces yesterday. — AFP CAIRO: A state of emergency came into to “break the will of the Egyptian people force yesterday across parts of Egypt’s Sinai and army”. Security officials said a suspect- Peninsula as the military pounded suspect- ed jihadist behind the attack rammed a ed jihadists after 30 soldiers were killed in a checkpoint with an explosives-packed vehi- suicide car bombing. It was the deadliest cle. The bombing in an agricultural area of attack on the country’s security forces since El-Arish, the main town in north Sinai, also the army deposed Islamist president wounded 29 troops, medics said, including Mohamed Morsi last year, to the fury of his a senior army official and five officers. supporters. The state of emergency in the Gunmen also shot dead an officer and north and centre of the Sinai will remain in wounded two soldiers on Friday at another place for three months, the president’s checkpoint south of El-Arish, security offi- office said. A curfew is in force from 5 pm to cials said. Jihadists in the peninsula have 7 am. killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Egypt also announced it would close the Morsi’s overthrow to avenge a bloody Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, the only police crackdown on his supporters. The route into the Palestinian territory not con- attacks have dealt a further blow to a trolled by Israel. “The army and the police tourism industry already reeling after a will take all necessary measures to tackle 2011 uprising that overthrew long-time the dangers of terrorism and its financing, president Hosni Mubarak. to preserve the security of the region... and While south Sinai is dotted with tourist protect the lives of citizens,” the presidential resorts on the Red Sea - a popular destina- decree said. While militants have been killed tion for scuba divers - the lawless north is a or arrested, the army has been unable so far base for militants who have launched a to crush them despite a massive operation wave of attacks, mostly targeting security in which it has deployed attack helicopters forces. The peninsula’s southern coastline and tanks. The military launched fresh air has been largely spared from the violence strikes yesterday in northern Sinai, killing rocking the country since the 2011 revolt, eight suspected militants, security officials partly thanks to security checkpoints in the said. region. But it has not been completely President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the army untouched by the militants. In February, a chief who toppled Morsi and later won elec- suicide bomber killed three South Korean tions, chaired a meeting yesterday of the tourists in an attack on a bus in the south Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to Sinai resort of Taba that was claimed by discuss what measures to implement under Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the most active mili- the state of emergency. After the meeting, tant group in Egypt. After Friday’s attack, KUWAIT: A picture taken yesterday with a telescopic lens shows a gigantic sunspot known as AR2192 that measures almost 80,000 miles Sisi told reporters that Friday’s attack was Sisi announced three days of national across on the lower center of the sun.