Kuwait foreign investments drop $31bn’

[LahoreEstate]

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has lost $31 billion of its estimated $300 billion sovereign wealth fund as a result of the global economic crisis, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

“We were told that losses in our foreign investments were nine billion dinars,” Islamist MP Waleed al-Tabtabai told reporters after a presentation to parliament by the head of the Kuwait Investment Authority. He said that most of the losses revealed by KIA chief Bader al-Saad during a closed door session of parliament were ‘book losses’ as a result of the global financial crisis.

The government of the oil-rich emirate on Sunday unveiled a multi-billion dollar stimulus plan that includes wide-ranging state guarantees for bank loans and assisting troubled investment firms to repay their debts. Last year, Kuwait guaranteed deposits of all banks operating in the country. A number of Kuwaiti investment companies have defaulted on loans as credit facilities have become difficult to obtain and the value of their assets has plunged. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg5_33