KUWAIT: Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of State for Services Affairs Khaled Al-Roudhan said the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SME Fund) had funded 1,035 projects with the total of KD 177.1 million over the past three years - 2016-2019. Responding to a parliamentary inquiry by MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Roudhan said commercial enterprises took the lion's share with KD 61.2 million funded to finance 411 projects, followed by service projects with KD 64.8 million for over 406 projects, 147 industrial projects funded with KD 38.2 million, 43 craft projects funded with KD 5.2 million and 28 agricultural projects funded with KD 7.5 million. Roudhan said the fund had rejected 1,807 projects in the same period for various reasons including lack of financial and technical studies, inaccurate or exaggerated assessment of total cost, unclear sale, marketing and pricing policies, lack of experience and many other reasons.

New subsidized foods
A study by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that the ministry is about to add new supply items to the subsidized rations given to Kuwaitis including frozen meat, cereals (cornflakes), new brands of milk and burgers.

Temporary tents
Kuwait Municipality has prepared a draft ministerial resolution pertaining with regulating the use of marquees and temporary tents, said informed sources, noting that the resolution will include eight articles. The sources added that the conditions include banning pitching any tent or marquee on government property without prior license from the municipality, limiting the license validity to one month renewable for a further one month, paying a KD 500 insurance deposit to be refunded only after the site is handed over the way it was before using it, collecting fees of KD 1,000 for areas up to 500 sq m, KD 2,000 for areas between 500-1,500 sq m and KD 3,000 for areas larger than 1,500 sq m.

12 assessment factors
The Ministry of Social Affairs has over the past few months been setting the standards needed to transparently select outstanding cooperative societies before holding an honoring ceremony, assistant undersecretary for cooperation affairs Abdul Aziz Shuaib said. Shuaib said the honoring was done using 12 assessment factors including hiring more citizens, entrepreneurship, facilities for people with disabilities, profitability and others.

By A Saleh