90% of SME owners in Kuwait unable to pay rents, salaries

KUWAIT CITY: More than 90 percent of the owners of small enterprises in Kuwait are unable to pay rents and their employees’ salaries due to the losses they sustained as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Al-Anba daily.

About 200 training companies were unable to withstand the impact and had to close down their businesses.

The rest of the companies are currently enduring losses – this is how those specialized in the fields of training, consulting, investment, consumer protection and medical products are describing the current situation in light of the crisis and the continuous bleeding in most sectors.

They explained that there are companies that have been brought back to life after the end of the curfew and have witnessed a great turnout by citizens and residents, such as health clubs, training companies, medicines, cleaning and sanitization, cooperative societies and companies selling products online. The companies operating in the storage sectors, aviation and tourism have “catastrophic” financial results.

The state did not intervene to find solutions to the rental problems. There are a large number of rental cases currently pending in the courts. An appropriate legislative environment must be created for these projects, the support of raw materials, the reduction of fees and the provision of soft loans without interest to their owners, and the government must have a “technical and administrative financial” device.

A specialist in solving economic crises stressed the need to transform the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises into an independent, monitored body which would have a role in terms of business incubators and accelerators, etc.