The National Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali yesterday reached a “final” agreement on a scheme to purchase banks loans taken by Kuwaitis and waive all interest on them, head of the committee and Shamali said. Following a marathon meeting yesterday, head of the committee MP Youssef Al- Zalzalah said it was agreed to exclude the debtors of Islamic banks and financial companies from the deal and those registered with the so-called defaulters fund.
Accordingly, the estimated cost of the scheme will be KD 720 million, down from the earlier KD 930 million, said Zalzalah, adding that “I believe that the cost may not exceed KD 500 million because not all the debtors will join the scheme”. Under the law, Kuwaiti debtors who have taken loans from conventional banks before March 30, 2008 are eligible to join the program that stipulates the government to purchase the loans, waive all interest and then reschedule repayment in easy installments over a period not exceeding 15 years provided that the value of an installment should not exceed 40 percent of the monthly income of any debtor.
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