KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) statistics show that 79 percent of the manpower working for the government and 21 percent working for the private sector are citizens. Statistics also showed that citizens form only 30 percent of Kuwait's population (1,372,998), while non-Kuwaitis make up 70 percent (3,162,180) of the total population of 4,535,178.

Government spending

MP Mubarak Al-Harees expressed amazement at increasing government spending in the 2018-2019 budget, because it comes at a time when the government is calling for and confirming its seriousness in rationalization and cutting expenses. Harees added that the government has been repeatedly making the same mistakes on setting its budgets. "We have been hearing the same since we came to the 2013 parliament - the government increases spending and at the same time fails to fulfill citizens' needs," he said, noting that the government had refused amending the social security law with regards to early retirement, yet it increased spending in the new budget. "The government should not have expected stability in oil prices on setting the budget because they are subject to international circumstances beyond our control," he noted, calling for stopping waste without affecting citizens' incomes.

Arab League

The Cabinet yesterday urged various ministries and government bodies to address the Arab League Secretariat General only via the foreign ministry. A letter sent by the Cabinet Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Roudhan to all ministries and government bodies stressed that some of these bodies had been directly contacting the Arab League Secretariat General, adding this is a violation of the foreign ministry's regulations and the related Amiri decree.

By A Saleh