Investment Opportunities Eyed
KUWAIT CITY, April 6
Secretary of the National Assembly MP Kamel Al-Awadhi proposed a bill on Saturday to allow foreigners to own property in Kuwait. He said the bill aims to provide foreigners with a stable means to carry on their business and will be beneficial to the real estate market.
In light of the high population of expatriates, Al-Awadhi added, his proposed bill will allow new investment opportunities as foreigners will be attracted to invest their savings in the local economy instead of outside Kuwait.
Al-Awadhi proposed the amendment of law number 8/2001 concerning the regulation of direct investment of foreign capital in the State of Kuwait to allow foreign residents and investors to acquire residential and business properties.
Meanwhile, MPs Mubarak Al-Najada and Essam Al-Dabous criticized an alleged "request by Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shammali to tax citizens and expatriates on services provided in Kuwait".
He said that the services provided in Kuwait are low in standard for any taxes to be imposed on them. "The citizen is tired and is suffering from the lack of a clear strategy to develop basic services such as health care," said Al-Dabous.
Al-Najada also added that "the government must undertake radical reforms before thinking of such an idea logically and scientifically".
It's worth mentioning the news reports had quoted sources saying that the Finance Ministry is weighing the possibility of imposing taxes, however, according to Al-Rai newspaper on March 7, Al-Shammali denied that the Kuwaiti government intends, during this period, to impose a taxation system on expatriates.
© Arab Times 2013
