SUBSCRIPTION MONDAY, JULY 17, 2017 SHAWWAL 23, 1438 AH www.kuwaittimes.net Speaker: Israeli Macron chides Bollywood Federer wins repression Netanyahu on superstars record 8th cannot be settlements, urges dazzle at Indian Wimbledon as tolerated3 new Mideast6 talks film28 awards Cilic16 in tears Govt withdrew KD 28.5bn Min 32º Max 50º in 3 years amid oil slump High Tide 05:14 & 17:17 Low Tide Future gen fund main beneficiary • Finance ministry mulls imposing VAT 11:33 & 23:50 32 PAGES NO: 17281 150 FILS By B Izzak KUWAIT: The government has withdrawn KD 28.5 billion French FM meets Amir for Gulf crisis talks from the general state reserve over the past three fiscal years starting from the 2014/2015 fiscal year, Finance KUWAIT: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian Minister Anas Al-Saleh said yesterday. The minister said in a held talks with top officials in Kuwait yesterday in a reply to a parliamentary question that KD 9.64 billion was bid to bolster the state’s attempts to mediate in the withdrawn in 2014/2015 and KD 11.47 billion in 2015/2016, Gulf crisis. Le Drian met with HH the Amir Sheikh while KD 7.46 billion was withdrawn in the past fiscal year, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Kuwait’s for- the minister said. The withdrawal coincided with the start eign minister, state news agency KUNA said, for talks of a sharp drop in the price of oil, whose revenues made up on a regional rift which has seen Saudi Arabia, the around 95 percent of total public revenues before the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain sever all ties slump in oil income. with Qatar. But the ministry of finance later explained that only a Le Drian, who was due in the United Arab Emirates small portion of the withdrawn funds were used to finance yesterday night, stopped in Qatar and Saudi Arabia at the budget deficit. A spokesman for the ministry said the the start of his two-day Gulf tour on Saturday. The bulk of the funds, or KD 15.55 billion, were injected into the French foreign minister has supported Kuwait as a Reserve Fund for Future Generations, from which the law mediator in the Gulf crisis, which he said should be forbids any withdrawals. A ministry spokesman said KD resolved “by the Gulf countries themselves”. “France 5.74 billion was used to finance the budget deficit of does not want to substitute the mediator,” Le Drian 2016/2017, while KD 1.4 billion was used to pay for a short- said in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. “It wants to be a fall at the pension agency. The remaining funds of KD 5.1 facilitator by joining efforts of other countries”. billion were withdrawn in the 2015/2016 fiscal year, he said. Le Drian’s visit comes after a four-day mediation In a related development, Saleh said the ministry of mission by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, which finance is considering the implementation of value added ended on Thursday with no announcement of tax (VAT) on certain sectors, but is studying measures to min- progress towards defusing mounting tensions in the imize its impact on citizens. He said the ministry is studying Gulf. Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed sanctions on alternatives to safeguard low-income people from the nega- Doha on June 5, including closing its only land bor- tive impacts of applying the economic reforms program fol- der, denying Qatar access to their airspace and order- lowing the slump in oil revenues. ing their citizens back from the emirate. The four The minister said the sharp drop in oil prices resulted in Arab states accuse Qatar of ties to Iran and of fund- a massive decline in the state revenues, prompting the gov- ing Islamist extremist groups. Qatar has denied the ernment to carry out economic reforms including diversify- accusations. The Gulf crisis is the worst to hit the ing sources of income. Accordingly, the government estab- region since the establishment of the Gulf KUWAIT: HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets French Foreign Minister lished the national program for financial and economic sus- Cooperation Council in 1981. — AFP Jean-Yves Le Drian at Bayan Palace yesterday. — AFP tainability with the aim to reduce the budget deficit. Continued on Page 11 Muslims refuse to enter Aqsa site JERUSALEM: Israel reopened an ultra- Calls to prayer rang out from Al-Aqsa, sensitive holy site yesterday that was but dozens of Muslim worshippers held Rouhani brother closed after an attack that killed two midday prayers outside the site in protest policemen, but Muslim worshippers at the new security measures. Around 150 held on financial were refusing to enter due to new securi- people gathered outside for prayers later ty measures including metal detectors in the afternoon. Police said some 200 crime charges and cameras. Crowds chanted “Allahu people entered the compound. “We reject Akbar” (God is Greatest) as a number of the changes imposed by the Israeli gov- TEHRAN: Iran’s judiciary yesterday announced the initial visitors entered Jerusalem’s Haram ernment,” Sheikh Omar Kiswani, Al-Aqsa arrest of President Hassan Rouhani’s brother Hossein Al-Sharif compound. The flashpoint holy director, told reporters outside. “We will Fereydoun on financial crime charges, in a long-run- site includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the not enter through these metal detectors.” ning feud between two of the country’s centers of Dome of the Rock. Continued on Page 11 power. “Multiple investigations have been conduct- ed regarding this person, also other people have been investigated, some of whom are in jail,” deputy judiciary chief Gholamhossein A picture taken on June 25, 2016 shows Penon de Velez de la Gomera, a peninsula Mohseni Ejeie said in a televised within Spanish territory off the coast of Morocco’s Al-Hoceima national park. — AFP press conference. “Yesterday, bail was issued for him but Moroccans eye Spanish because he failed to secure it he was referred to prison,” Ejeie said. “If he secures bail, he will enclave across border be released. But the case will take its course.” BADES, Morocco: It’s one of the shortest facing the Mediterranean. The conservative-dominated land borders in the world: A few dozen Penon de Velez de la Gomera is one of judiciary has clashed with meters of plastic cord across a sandbank seven Spanish enclaves on the northern Hossein Fereydoun Rouhani, who has sought to separate Morocco from the tiny Spanish coast of Morocco, which claims sover- ease social restrictions and release political prison- enclave of Penon de Velez de la Gomera. eignty over all of them. The best known ers. News of the arrest comes a year after the head of Wooden boats lie amid nets worn by sea- are Ceuta, which overlooks the strategi- the General Inspection Organization, Naser Seraj, water at the foot of the imposing mini- cally vital Strait of Gibraltar, and Melilla, first accused Fereydoun, who acts as a key adviser peninsula, home to a Spanish military further to the east. But a string of islets and gatekeeper to Rouhani, of financial violations. base. “Don’t approach the string!” a remain under Spanish control, including The brothers do not share the same name because Moroccan soldier shouted from a pillbox, several occupied by Spanish forces. These Rouhani changed his when he was younger. his helmet askew. “They might shoot you tiny leftovers of Spain’s once vast empire Conservatives have demanded that Fereydoun be with plastic bullets,” he said in a lower have been a source of tension between JERUSALEM: Muslim worshippers, who refused to enter due to new security measures put on trial, accusing him of receiving zero-interest tone of voice, before retreating to the Morocco and its former colonial occupier. including metal detectors and cameras, pray yesterday as Israeli border policemen Continued on Page 11 shade of his wooden shelter on a slope Continued on Page 11 stand outside Lion’s Gate, a main entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. — AFP Can OPEC ride out the storm? ISTANBUL: For cartel OPEC - created in 1960 with the the global oil industry. “The US will later this year or ear- aim of supporting a sustainable price on the oil market - ly next year reach the highest production in its history,” it is in some ways a perfect storm. Stocks have surged he told the congress. thanks to the rapid emergence of oil from US shale OPEC has no control over the revolution caused by deposits. And due to the abundant supply, the price of the production of shale oil in the United States, which is oil now stands at currently less than $50 per barrel, not a member of the cartel. In a bid to push prices up, around a third of the level of 10 years ago, when it OPEC and key non-cartel members -including Russia, topped a high of $147. This has been terrible news for but not the United States - agreed coordinated output the leading members of the group - including Iran, cuts in December to push up prices. The cuts were Saudi Arabia and Venezuela - who have seen holes envisaged for six months and extended for another blown in their hydrocarbon-dependent budgets. three. But so far, they have had hardly any effect - with Meanwhile, on a longer term horizon, the focus has oil prices still hovering at 45 dollars a barrel. switched from when “peak oil” will be reached - the The oil industry was confronted by market forces moment oil extraction starts to decline due to dwin- “which are strong, stubborn and as a result we are here dling resources - to when demand itself could fall.