KUWAIT CITY, 16 December 2004 — The Kuwaiti Parliament yesterday unanimously approved a 200-dinar ($680) one-off bonus to each of the emirate’s 950,000 nationals to help cope with a rise in living costs.
The Emir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, proposed the grant totaling around $650 million in October. The 1.7 million foreigners living in Kuwait are not included.
All 49 lawmakers and Cabinet members attending the special session voted for it.
The payment was intended as an alternative to lawmakers’ demands unexpected revenues from this year’s sky-high oil prices be spent on pay raises for civil servants.
Several lawmakers accused the government of “ignoring” its own nationals while providing hefty aid to foreign countries.
“Salaries of 60 percent of Kuwaitis are not sufficient for them. ... We are distributing our money to several countries and forgetting our people,” tribal MP Barrak Al-Noun said.
Seven bills containing pay and benefit increases were on yesterday’s agenda; all were referred to committees.
The grant will be distributed early next year. Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Sharar would not give a final cost, saying those born between now and the day the Emiri order is executed also will get the bonus. Figured roughly based on 950,000 Kuwaiti citizens, costs can be expected around 190 million dinars ($650 million).
Kuwait, which has a generous cradle-to-grave welfare system but whose fortunes rise and fall on oil prices, posted a combined surplus of $21.5 billion in the past five fiscal years. It is headed for record revenues this year and a 2.3 billion-dinar ($7.8 billion) surplus is anticipated.
The Cabinet has been reluctant to accept lawmakers’ demands on pay raises for civil servants, fearing Kuwaitis would be discouraged from joining the private sector. Some 93 percent of Kuwait’s 290,000-strong work force have cushy government jobs.
