Finance

KUWAIT: Supervisory instructions to the banking sector led to banks ceasing to grant expats installment loans up to KD 70,000, limiting their financial transactions to car loans and some consumer needs, although there are no specific supervisory instructions in this regard. Instructions by the Central Bank set the maximum limit of consumer loans at 15 times the salary, but should not exceed KD 15,000, and the total installments should not exceed 40 percent of the salary. Meanwhile, an installment loan may reach KD 70,000 and has to be paid back in 15 years.

Kuwait: Pro-government MP Kamel Al-Awadhi yesterday proposed that expatriates should be forced to pay a five percent tax on any money transfers sent to their home countries to pay for highly-subsidized public services offered to them. The lawmaker, who headed the immigration department for years before turning to politics, presented his proposal in the form of an amendment to the central bank law.