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THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAITEstablished in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com
NO. 15995 44 PAGES 150 FILSemergency number 112THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015 / RABI AL AWWAL 20, 1437 AH
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Fuel price hike prescribed remedy for budget deficit
Subsidies for next 3 years to cost KD 16 bln
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ice hockey Page 38
KUNA photoPhoto shows a surprise security campaign in Ardiya Industrial
Area on Dec 30. — See Page 6
Newswatch
KUWAIT CITY: His Highness theAmir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent on Wednesday acable of condolences to King Hamadbin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom ofBahrain over martydom of three sol-diers of the Bahraini Defense Forcesserving with the Arab coalition forces.The martyrs had fallen while perform-ing their national duty in defending thesouthern border of the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia.
His Highness the Amir prayed toAlmighty Allah to bestow His mercyupon souls of the martyrs and granttheir families patience and fortitude.
His Highness the Deputy Amir andCrown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and HisHighness the Prime Minister Sheikh
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In this Dec 24, 2015 photo released by the US Navy, guided-missile destroyerUSS Bulkeley participates in a replenishment-at-sea with fleet replenishmentoiler USNS John Lenthall in the Gulf of Oman. Iranian naval vessels conductedrocket tests last week near the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, the USS
Bulkeley destroyer and a French frigate, the FS Provence, and commercial traf-fic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the American military said on Dec 30,causing new tension between the two nations after a landmark nuclear deal.(AP)
Happy New Year to allThere will be no issue of the Arab Times on Friday. The next issue of the Arab Times will appear on the news-stands Saturday morning. — See you then
Other Voices
Streets, names, places and ice creamBy Ali Ahmed Al-BaghliFormer Minister of Oil
IN RECENT times we have seenKuwait changing the names of streetsin an unprecedented manner andright so, Mr Jassem Al-Saadoun dur-ing one recent seminar said ‘We go tobed and when we get up in the morn-ing we find the name of our street orthe number has been changed’.
Moreover, the name is once again
changed andwe find that theold namewhich we wereso familiarwith through-out the periodof our adoles-cence andyouth has sud-denly disap-
peared.The wise government keeps
changing the names of our streets inour old age, the names which wewere familiar with since our child-hood.
How we wish our loyal govern-ment to affix the CV with the newstreet name since we are unfamiliarwith many new street names for thesimple reason we do not know the
contribution of these people to thenation or even to themselves.
For example, one of Kuwait’sstreets in an ideal location wasnamed after a very noted Arab poet.In fact, we knew his poetry by heartsince it was taught at the primary,intermediate and secondary levels ingovernment schools and the poetry
Al-Baghli e-mail: [email protected]
Rationalization plan to save KD 2.6 bln
KUWAIT CITY, Dec 30,(KUNA): Undersecretary ofKuwait’s Finance MinistryKhalifa Hamada saidWednesday that the expectedfinancial subsidy by the Statefor citizens is projected atKD 16 billion during the nextthree, in case the subsidy sys-tem remained unchanged.
Khalifa added in an interview withAl-Qabas Arabic-language daily thatthe continuation of the subsidy sys-tem will contribute to increasing theexpenditure which will lead to animminent budget deficit.
He said that the government plan torationalize subsidization will con-tribute to saving KD 2.6 billion in threeyears, which shows the importance ofthe plan in a time when the budget iswitnessing a large deficit because offalling oil prices.
He pointed out that the rationaliza-tion process will ensure the sustainabil-ity of development in Kuwait and givethe State the ability to continue to pro-vide essential services to its citizens,such as education, health, security, jus-tice and other services that are indis-pensable.
Meanwhile, local scene has beenabuzz with much talk about forecast
Opinion
MPs of shorn wool and sheepBy Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
SOME members of the Parliamentstill believe that Kuwait is excep-tional compared to the rest of theworld in terms of the repercussionsof the crisis, steep oil price declineand its effect on the national econ-omy.
These MPshave neitherlaid downproper plansnor proposedlaws thatwould haveprevented theState fromfalling into thepit of financialdeficit becauseof its unreason-able consumer expenditures andthe government would not havetaken measures to ensure the con-tinuation of the lavish life of citi-zens.
These MPs assume that theirticket to a longer life in theParliament and to gain more popu-larity is by allowing the dark holesof support to continue swallowingabout KD 7 billion. They deal withthe issue of remedying flaws inpublic expenditures like the oldsaying, “Whoever is not satisfiedwith the shorn wool will be satis-fied with the shorn wool and thesheep”.
They have yet to realize thatsalaries and support for servicesand goods will reach about KD 35billion by 2020, and such figureswill have severe negative impacton the national economy whichwill not be remedied unless boldsteps are taken.
Undoubtedly, these bold stepswill have short-term negativeeffects on citizens, but there will bemany positive effects in the longrun. At least, these positive effectsentail continuous provision of thecurrent quality of public services,or perhaps, even better.
Another long-term effect is theguarantee of pension for citizens,and most important of all, is thestart of diversification of incomesources and exit from the tunnel ofdependence on oil as the onlysource of income.
For the past five years, experts,through several analyses andresearches, have been warningabout the dire consequences of con-tinuing the current consumer expen-diture mode. For some of theseexperts, the level of pessimismmade them warn about economic
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Al-Jarallah
Bahrain F-16 crashes in SaudiRIYADH, Dec 30, (AFP): A Bahrainifighter jet taking part in the Saudi-ledcoalition battling rebel forces in Yemencrashed Wednesday in Saudi Arabia dueto a “technical error,” the alliance said.
The F-16 jet crashed in the kingdom’ssouthwestern Jazan region near the borderwith Yemen, the coalition said in a state-ment on the official SPA news agency.
Bahrain’s military confirmed that thejet crashed “while carrying out its
national duty in defending the southernborders” of Saudi Arabia.
The pilot was “saved and is in goodhealth,” it said, adding that the plane’swreckage had been found and that aninvestigation had been launched.
The crash comes a day after Bahrainsaid that three of its soldiers had died“in an incident” along the Saudi borderwith Yemen.
It did not say how or when they haddied.
The rebel sabanews.net website saidmeanwhile that insurgents fired a “bal-listic missile” early Wednesday on thesouthern Saudi port of Jizan, whichthey claimed “precisely hit its target.”
But the coalition said that SaudiArabia’s defence forces safely inter-cepted the missile, destroying the war-head as well as its launcher in Yemen,
Need for alternative energy
Water, power to consume 25% of oilKUWAIT CITY, Dec 30:Electricity and water consump-tion will eat up 25 percent ofKuwait’s oil production by2030, reports Al-Rai dailyquoting a source from KuwaitInstitute for ScientificResearch (KISR).
The source made the state-ment in the midst of controver-sies regarding the alleged planto reduce subsidies and ration-alize public spending. Hewarned against the country’scontinuous use of fuel in pro-ducing electricity and water.He stressed the need to findalternative sources of energy
Washington describes action as ‘provocative’
Iran Guards test fire rocket near US carrierDUBAI, UAE, Dec 30, (AP): The USon Wednesday accused Iran of launch-ing a “highly provocative” rocket testlast week near its warships and com-mercial traffic passing through theStrait of Hormuz, exposing how ten-sions between the two countries couldescalate even after a landmark nucleardeal.
The strategic Arabian Gulf water-way, which sees nearly a third of all oiltraded by sea pass through it, has beenthe scene of past confrontationsbetween America and Iran, including a
one-day naval battle in 1988.But Saturday’s incident brought no
immediate response from Iranian offi-cials or media, while French authoritiesdownplayed its danger.
Military vessels taking part in thewar against the Islamic State group inIraq and Syria also pass through thenarrow waterway between Iran andOman. On Saturday, the USS Harry S.Truman aircraft carrier, the USSBulkeley destroyer and a Frenchfrigate, the FS Provence, were passingthrough it, said Cmdr Kyle Raines, a
US Central Command spokesman.As they passed, Iranian
Revolutionary Guard vessels, hailingother ships in the strait over maritimeradio, announced they’d be carryingout a live fire exercise, Raines said in astatement. After 23 minutes, the Iranianboats fired “several unguided rockets”about 1,370 meters (1,500 yards) fromthe warships and commercial traffic, hesaid.
While the rockets weren’t fired in thedirection of any ships, Raines saidIran’s “actions were highly provoca-
tive.”“Firing weapons so close to passing
coalition ships and commercial trafficwithin an internationally recognizedmaritime traffic lane is unsafe, unpro-fessional and inconsistent with interna-tional maritime law,” he said.
A French military official, speakingto The Associated Press on condition ofanonymity as he was not authorized tobe publicly named, confirmed the rock-et fire took place Saturday. However,
Thousands of homes destroyedin ‘liberated’ Ramadi – officialBAGHDAD, Dec 30,(Agencies): Months of fight-ing in Ramadi have causedextensive destruction, offi-cials said Wednesday, warn-ing that it was too soon forcivilians to return to the Iraqicity after its recapture fromjihadists.
Iraqi forces declared victo-ry on Sunday night in theRamadi battle after wrestingback control of the city’s cen-tral government complexfrom the Islamic State group.
Some jihadist fighters haveyet to be flushed out, mostlyon the eastern edge of thecity, and many reconquered
areas have yet to be fullycleared of roadside bombsand booby traps.
“There is extensivedestruction in the city as aresult of terrorist activity andmilitary operations,” saidIbrahim al-Osej, a member ofthe Ramadi district council.
IS fighters had laid thou-sands of explosive devicesacross Ramadi as part of theirdefence against an offensivethat was launched on Dec 22by elite federal forces.
The US-led coalition sup-porting the Iraqi effort toreclaim the city, which waslost to IS in May, has also
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