Kuwait to support entrepreneurs as Covid cases rise

Kuwait's National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprise Development will give funding to eligible businesses as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to batter the global economy.

The decision will take effect from March for three months, the Cabinet said.

During its weekly meeting, the Cabinet also told authorities to take measures to postpone the payment of all service fees provided by the state to the owners of suspended business activities.

The Ministry of Health recorded 823 new Covid-19 cases on Monday.

It attributed the sharp increase in infections to people not adhering to social distancing rules by attending gatherings in large numbers.

The total number of cases in Kuwait stood at 179,488 as of Tuesday.

To help contain the spread of the virus, the Cabinet asked Kuwait's fire force and national guard to assist health authorities in enforcing health and safety precautions and to ensure all sectors abide by rules to contain the pandemic.

Minister of Health Dr Bassel Al Sabah held a special session on Tuesday to highlight the importance of taking the vaccine and adhering to social distancing regulations.

Tougher measures will be applied if people do not adhere to the rules, he said.

Dr Al Sabah said the number patients admitted to hospital with the virus had reached 585, while 128 patients were admitted to intensive care units.

Kuwait announced that non-citizens would be barred from entering the country for two weeks from February 7 and the measure is scheduled to end next week. The nation celebrates its national day at the end of the month.

A national holiday will be held from February 25 to 28.

Kuwait received its fourth batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of a deal to supply the country with doses on a weekly basis, the health ministry said.

As of Monday, the number of people officially registered to receive the Covid-19 vaccine reached 454,522, which included 215,000 citizens and 238,000 residents. The number of people vaccinated so far is 137,000, the Kuna news agency reported.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Key recommendations

Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.

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