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BBC Middle East Business Report: Kuwait’s Cash Handout

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53 replies on “BBC Middle East Business Report: Kuwait’s Cash Handout”

I completely 100% agree with Mrs. Dashti’s comments. This was a really great feature and highlights a lot of my own thoughts and beliefs. I love how they even kind of compare the social unrest happening in Tunisia and Egypt to Kuwait a bit. There are SO MANY social problems here in Kuwait, such as the one commenter in the video mentioned (hospitals, roads, etc.) that could use money like this to make it better.
As Mrs. Dashti said, our money should be used as a catalyst for change and a better life. Instead, we’re hiding away from our problems and trying to keep people quiet by handing out “free money.” It’s not free at all, it comes at a cost… instead of working on and bettering our lives in our wonderful country, they are just handing out money for us to spend foolishly.
Really respect this feature. Hope everyone sees it and opens their eyes.

DUDE!

When a company can not get a proper RATE of return for its investor’s money, it returns that money to investors in the form of dividends or stock buy backs (so those investors could maybe find a better place for it).

SAME THING…

The government money (MONEY of the PEOPLE) hasn’t been doing anything VERY productive lately (the past 20 years), so why not give a small portion (1 out 200 billion) back to the people (i.e. investors).

I say smart idea, let the PEOPLE decide.

DASHTI GOT NOTHING ON ME!

Alot of interesting points are brought up. Still though thats not going to stop me from enjoying this gift from our Amir. God bless Sheik Sabah.

What a good point you make! Perhaps instead of investing in safety education and enforcing traffic laws, we should simply get rid of the roads. Problem solved!

While safety education, and enforcing traffic laws play an important part in traffic safety, so does the manner and form in which roads are built and laid out.

Ford God’s sake abolish the Wasta system here in Kuwait. People who never have held a steering wheel in their life get license’s by paying up 600 K.D. And the people who know driving never get it unless they pay up. And you wonder why the rate of accidents keep increasing daily 😛

I agree with Mrs.Dashti’s money in Kuwait and Bahrain should be spent in developing our countries for future generations.

Totally agree with some of the comments here. I feel like the money could be put to much better use! and it really does feel like a bribe, and spending it would just further prove the point that unfortunately people CAN be bought 🙁 If one person from every household would give up their 1000 and place it in a pool to better serve this country we can really make a change!

I find it unfair not only to expatriates, but to homeless people . KD 200 was cool, now shot up 800KD PLUS a year of free food?

It would be nice if citizens used that ‘free food’ to help the poor, and for charity work. Imagine how many would benefit from that.

I understand, its the 50th National day. Great occasion. But shooting up KD 800 from the previous maximum? *sigh*

Would be so much better if they used up atleast half of the increment for the society as whole.

I don’t know how true is it, but I heard that somewhere in the 60s or 70s ( I am completely not sure ), KD 100 was given to ‘everyone’ not only citizens?
I mean come on, if back then if they were able to give ‘everyone’ KD 100, right now ‘everyone’ could get thrice or even more the amount.
That’s not the matter tho, what about non-citizens who have lived in Kuwait for more than 30 – 40 years?

I could keep going on with the list etc etc. But bah.. just gave a summary of how ‘I’ feel .

Me being born and brought up in Kuwait for so many years, I am so happy to see it doing well MashaAllah!
God Bless Kuwait!!

7asastoni daf3enha men jaibkoum? It’s a gift, The Amir can give it to whoever he likes, stop being ungrateful and envious.

Right on ,, am so taken aback by the attitude of people like we feel offended and blaaah ,, and the day of the money they’re like the first people to take it :/

ee walla 9a7 ilsanik il7een yitshakoon 7ag ily moo kuwaiti liesh ma ya5th a5af bas low barra chan 3abaroona oo 3a6oona weyahoum :s

Mark, with all due respect, but why did you delete my 2 comments. There were neither offensive nor juvenile points in the comments I wrote. I just explained, to some of the readers with facts, why the cash grant is a gift and not a bribery. I hope you didn’t stop believing in the freedom of speech.

there was nothing wrong with what you said but i deleted the whole thread that started from the top in which the guy said it was bribery. The conversation was headed to places it shouldn’t have been.

I’d rather see it spent on Fiber Optic everywhere, but I’ll take that 1000 KD and spend what I need, the rest goes in the bank.

For goodness sake I would love fibre optic rather than this 1000 KD considering how far behind with our telecommunications and networking I heard the in france you can get 100mbs symmetric fibre optic for 50 euros a month or something like that 100mps down/upload

Shfeekm,haaw it’s a gift from amir 5la9 3ad take it or leave it, 7mdow rabkm yeeeeh! kl wa7ed 3nda mashroo3 aw yabee yt9la7 shay 5la9 give ur 1000 kd to whoever can fix hospitals wela madre sheno:Pp

and btw tara 1000 kd is very useful, some students use it for paying their education since they have debts.. b3dain el kl m7taj 1000 kd for something,faa plz 7mdow rabkm and always say thank you instead of complaining or tkabroon el salfa 5laa9 yeeh

Not trying to be ungrateful. I’m Kuwait and I think the oil’s money is being wasted for a very long time now. We pump, sell, spend&consume. The business model is not sustainable unless we have a machine that turns sea water into oil!

We need to be productive…and no, paperwork-based jobs are not productivity. I’m talking about developing the country to diversify sources of income. Let’s at least stop exporting crude oil!

It’s nobody’s fault….it’s just how things developed and we can fix it. Let’s just not wait for bad things to happen.

Chill out man, You guys have been blessed with a lot of cash.Just learn to enjoy it rather than thinking and stressing yourself about the future.

Until the oil runs out, and we’ve got nothing to show for it besides glittery towers, glittery cars, and glittery cupcakes?

ana agool 7imdow rabkoum 3ala il floos la7ed yitshaka
abee dawla thanya ta36eekoum hel 5eer ‘3eer il kuwait
willy yitshaka oo ma yaby il 1000 5el eezaky feehoum
ana min na7yty yaytny ib wekt 9a7

I think we all know by now that the government takes an awfully long time to get something done. Look at all the hospitals and the unfinished roads. So, there’s no point in saying this gift from the Amir should be sent back and invested in something else. If you would like to make contributions to your society. Then I suggest you do it yourself instead of waiting for a higher authority to do it for you. And FYI not all Kuwaitis are rich, some of us do need the 1000 kd to pay off our debts, to visit our families in other countries,invest in our kid’s future,get medical care and as a student, I need the money to buy books and other equipment. So, Be grateful for what you have 🙂

P.S: umm, Happy Valentine’s Day?

I think BBC has got a nicely balanced perspective on it. Some people will enjoy the money, shop and travel while some people will save it. But I think everybody will buy iPhones and Ipads now, BTW is that the X-cite outlet BBC was covering? I thought I saw an X-cite logo there. Looks like the X-cite outlet at avenues. BBC is now covering X-cite, that’s great for X-cite and Kuwait! Anyways Special thanks to the Amir for the grant! and God bless us all !

saad:
embala speaking out does count, bs yal 7beeb, fe wayed people get worry o worry 3n future o b3dain? they do nothing, instead of worrying try to make something, o honestly el people who gets worry they are number one don’t do a thing hatha shay m3roof “it’s known”, o elly efakar al7een o do it instead of worrying, they’re the ones would do something right now… ok I think im out of topic:Pp almohem ana agool don’t worry be happy “singing a song” 😛

Jinan:
you are absolutely right ! I Think mostly people think we kuwaitis are rich but honestly we work hard to get the amount o plus there are people who are in debts I Think most of us. so we should be grateful for whatever good things comes on our way without complaining and so cause sometimes it can be once a life time.

Many foreigners are so prepared to attack and criticize. I’ve heard a lot of foreigners who say “well, you Kuwaiti’s why don’t you give the money to the poor and to charities”, my answer is many of us are going to! So before anyone starts criticizing ask first. My family and friends are ALL going to give a portion of our 1000kd grant to the poor people in and out of Kuwait, foreigners and Kuwaitis.
This money will also be of great importance to the Kuwaiti families in need. Nevertheless I am not denying that there will be some people who will use the money for unnecessary things yet in my opinion I think most teenagers and people in their 20’s from anywhere on earth who are well off will use a 1000kd grant for their own pleasures.
Anyways, I would appreciate if foreigners will just accept the fact that we will receive the grant and that the Kuwaiti’s will use it wisely.
Congratulations on the grant! God bless every person on this Earth!

NN, many foreigners? here is 49 comments and Chris is the only foreigner. Or is it guilt that’s attacking and criticizing?

It’s funny how many in here just jump in and defend by default. I wonder how this come about…is this a support group to make us “Kuwaities” feel we deserve the 1K?

After spending the majority of the past 6 months dealing with multiple hospitals, doctors, and nurses in Kuwait due to the poor health of my child, that 1 billion KD would be way better spent on the health care system here…not equipment – they have top-of-the-line equipment; not surgeons – there are top-of-the-line surgeons; more on nurses & nursing training; and how about COMPUTERS?! My son was admitted to the pediatric floor of Amiri hospital through the Al-ghanim medical center and the Casualty of Amiri; his information was HAND WRITTEN in clip-together folders 3 TIMES – ONCE AT EACH OFFICE – they did not share the folders with the other offices! They are all part of the same hospital complex, but have no computers to type the information in once and have it ready to share to all departments! It is crazy!

I’ve been out of Kuwait for about a year and a half now, transiting through occasionally for business, and noticed that the prices have continued to climb for everything. Kuwait used to be a cheap place for luxury goods, but now the prices are no cheaper than outside. Main reason is that there’s less need to entice people into buying through price. All that will happen with the cash handout is prices will go up more, so more money will go into the hands of businesses.

Inflation, look it up.

I have no problem at all with the ‘gift’, I think it is a wonderful gesture….. however i do think that maybe this should have been limited to over 18’s who are resposible enough to be able to decide what to do with the money for themselves.
Many of the young people in Kuwait have no of the stuggle Kuwait had during many years of torment. Its crazy to give it to every kuwaiti citizen born before a certain day….how many induced births to meet the criteria? some families with many kids will recieve a lot of money…..Whereas there are many non-citizens who have given more to to kuwait than many citizens will ever do in their lifetime (not me before you start)
There are many expat retirees who were involved in the liberation of kuwait (are they being recognised?) many people have worked hard here building the infrastructure of kuwait for 30-40 years and call this place home, yet it seems they are less valued than a one day old baby…..to me it makes no sense
Spend wisely

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