FREE Established 1961 Friday ISSUE NO: 18505 MUHARRAM 5, 1443 AH FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2021 PM: COVID vaccination rate to reach 70% by Sept-end See Page 9 2 Friday Local Friday, August 13, 2021 By Ben Garcia entrepreneur who did not want his café or would mean no reopening,” Abu Ahmad boss paid my salary regularly. But towards full name to be mentioned. “I allowed said. the end of July, he told me to look for a fter a ban of more than a year due many of my workers to work somewhere Shisha providers are required to steril- part-time job. So I searched and got a Ato the coronavirus pandemic, else during the pandemic. Now we cannot ize the waterpipe before and after each cleaning job. Now my boss has told me to shisha cafés can reopen and wel- easily pull them out from their new com- individual use and serve it along with a prepare the café because we are opening come customers. Some health precau- panies where they are currently working. disposable smoking hose. Even as they on Thursday (yesterday),” she said. tions are still in place, of course, but the It’s a challenge to recruit new people now. open, they are also required to observe Earlier, the Kuwaiti Union of Shisha popular pastime is finally back. This is We also cannot hire new workers from social distancing and a capacity limit of cafés welcomed the decision of the health good news for shisha smokers, many of abroad. Workers in Kuwait are getting not more than 50 percent. In May, the authorities to allow the reopening of whom have gone months and months fewer and fewer as no additional recruits government agreed to the reopening of shisha cafés. The union promised to use without visiting their favorite cafés. But for are added to the workforce,” Abu Ahmad cafés and restaurants in the country as disposable hoses and ensure all workers shisha café owners, the good times aren’t said. part of a plan for a gradual return to nor- adhere to wearing masks and gloves, back yet. Apart from manpower shortages, there mal life, but kept a ban on shisha imposed serve drinks in disposable paper and plas- Before the pandemic, there were hun- are more pressing concerns on the back since March 2020. tic cups and wash and sterilize the shisha dreds of dedicated shisha cafés in Kuwait of 17 months of closure. “Do you think Yolly, a Filipina shisha server, is happy after every use. and hundreds more restaurants that property owners will easily allow us to to be back at her old job, since it means a Shisha is a widely popular activity served shisha along with food. But shisha reopen without payment for their property return to full-time employment. “My boss among Kuwait youth, with more than 57 places that have been closed for months rentals? They won’t allow us to reopen told me to come back. Since I was just a percent of adult males participating in have lost staff, who’ve either left the coun- until we pay the rent due. As for me, I did- part-timer in my job since last year as a shisha smoking at least occasionally. try or found other jobs. The shisha cafés n’t pay rent for five months. The rest of cleaner, I am happy to be working again Shisha (also referred to as hookah, water- have lost so much business that many the months I paid because I was anticipat- at my old job,” she said. “My boss is very pipe or hubbly-bubbly) is a traditional may stay closed permanently. ing reopening way back in March or April understanding; he allowed me to work method of smoking in the Middle East and “Other shisha houses have reopened of this year. But there are shisha cafés I from July last year as a part-timer. My visa the Indian subcontinent. but in my case I am still searching for new know that haven’t paid anything, and the was not cancelled and I was earning the people to work with me so we can shops are empty and closed. They want same money I earned at the shisha café. reopen,” said Abu Ahmad, an Egyptian us to pay the past dues. Non-payment From March 2020 until July 2020, my Friday 3 Local Friday, August 13, 2021 Small businesses fight for survival housands of small and medi- ing to start his business four years Tum businesses in Kuwait are ago, with the rest coming from a in the doldrums after being loan from a state fund. The 36- pummeled by the pandemic, year-old now fears he could default potentially torpedoing a private on the loan, and is holding out for sector central to efforts to remake further support from the govern- the oil-dependent economy. The ment such as compensation for its government, which spends more pandemic losses or exemptions than half of its annual budget on from certain debts. “I will not give the salaries of citizens who mostly up,” he told Reuters. “The crisis will work in public sector jobs, has subside, God willing.” encouraged them to set up their own businesses over the past Law comes too late decade. Expatriates, mostly from Arab The aim has been to ease state and Asian nations, make up about finances, reduce reliance on for- 70 percent of the 4.6 million-strong eign residents who make up most population of Kuwait. Kuwait, like of the population, and also help other oil exporters, was slammed Kuwait diversify away from oil, by the double shock of low crude which brings in 90 percent of state prices and the COVID-19 pandem- revenues but is looking increasing- ic, leading to the economy shrink- ly precarious as the world moves ing by 8 percent last year. On away from fossil fuels. Yet much of March 30 this year, the National that decade of work to foster small Assembly passed a law on financ- and medium-sized enterprises ing for SMEs, but for some busi- (SMEs), which involved about ness owners it will prove too late. $500 million of state financing, has The law gives those affected by been undone by the COVID-19 the pandemic access to funding of outbreak, according to many up to KD 250,000, of which the industry experts. government guarantees 80 per- According to a Reuters report, cent. Many SME owners say most of the 25,000 to 30,000 banks impose onerous financing SMEs in Kuwait were operating conditions under the scheme, like with limited cash reserves even proving the operational efficiency before the pandemic struck and of projects. The repayment period were unable to weather a halt in is five years with a possible addi- operations due to lockdowns, tional two years of grace. investment management firm A senior government source, Markaz said. In an indication of the who declined to be named, told scale of the problem, Abdulaziz Al- Reuters some SMEs were reluc- Mubarak, head of the Kuwait tant to make use of the law Federation for Small and Medium because it offered loans rather Enterprises, said that about 8,600 than compensation, the state didn’t entrepreneurs were currently fully guarantee the financing and switching from working in the pri- the limit on the repayment time. vate sector to the government. However, the official said the legis- He warned that the cash crunch lation could be amended to provide could “end the whole sector”. more support business owners, if That’s a major problem for Kuwait, necessary. “All solutions are avail- where SMEs generate 11.9 per- able to the government to support cent of GDP by gross value added, owners of SMEs,” he added, with- employ tens of thousands of peo- out elaborating. ple and play an important role in An amendment to Kuwait’s sectors like wholesale and retail bankruptcy law, which began to be trade, food and drinks, hospitality implemented last month and freed and construction. SME owners from the threat of Take Mohammed Al-Blushi. His imprisonment from debt defaults, factory making trucks and smart has offered some relief. Yet entre- homes from light steel suffered preneurs are still exposed to risks heavy losses due to COVID-19 such as seizure of assets or insol- restrictions. He has been forced to vency if they can’t settle their shrink his staff to just three employ- debts, said Fawaz Khaled ees from about 60. He came up Alkhateeb, an academic at the with half of the KD 800,000 financ- Kuwait International Law School. 4 Friday Local Friday, August 13, 2021 Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat Quran more than 20 times. In Kuwait, date palms provide the majority of fruit uwait’s dates are famous the world produced in the country. The Kuwaiti Kover for their juicy, lush sweet- people often plant palm trees in their ness. Summer time and especially gardens. Fruit bearing palm trees can August is prime date season, when the also be found in local parks, along luscious fruit ripens to its full, bursting streets and on the seaside. best. Dates come in an array of varities The moderate warm and hot weather including: Ajwa, Birhi, Ikhlass, Khudary, in most of the Arab region is the most Makboosh and Sukari. appropriate environment for palm trees Known in Arabic as tamr (dried date), making the Arab world the first in grow- dates have been popular in the Arabian ing palm trees in the world.