From Gulf Times
''The Gulf’s youngest central bank governor may struggle to revive lending at Kuwait’s banks to spur private businesses and reduce reliance on a government that focuses more on raising wages than investments.
Mohammed al-Hashel, 37, took over as central bank chief in Opec’s fourth-biggest oil producer after his predecessor Sheikh Salem Abdul Aziz al-Sabah quit in February.
Sheikh Salem ended his 25-year career criticising state spending policies that cushion the public sector through current expenditures, which have more than doubled since 2006, while investment outlays in the nation of 3.7mn lag behind.
Kuwait’s central bank has trailed peers in the Gulf Co-operation Council in encouraging banks to boost lending to the private sector as oil prices above $100 a barrel give the bloc surpluses to invest in modernising their economies.
Loans to Kuwaiti private companies grew 2.4% in the year to February, compared with 12% expansion in Saudi Arabia and 16% in Qatar, central bank data show.''
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