How does the citizen dwell?

The Minister of Commerce issued a ministerial decision regarding the controls and provisions of credit facilities resulting from installment sales of commodities and services for companies. He also directed the debtors to the necessity of registering with the credit information network company, "Sign It." This means that the mechanism applied to banks will be applied to those companies, as the citizen who has reached the maximum borrowing limit according to the Central Bank’s controls with banks will not be able to buy in installments from those companies. What is new here is that the value of the goods sold to a single customer in the installment system does not exceed the sum of five thousand dinars, and it is paid in equal monthly installments over a period that does not exceed three years. This decision aroused the dissatisfaction of many citizens, and of course it certainly did not win the approval of many merchants, but in my personal belief, this decision is a prudent one, as some companies start lending operations and charge interest or profits through installments of their purchases outside the framework of the banking system and supervision, so that the citizen sometimes becomes a victim of moneylenders of a new kind, and some of them say that these installments are without interest, and of course this matter is not accurate, as the interest and profits are added to the value of the cash price. If anyone wants to buy with cash, they offer him a discount, meaning that it is a matter that is dominated by fraud. This process, without generalizing, is not disciplined, or organized and includes purchases by installments in order to sell for cash sometimes. Let me tell you the story of my buffet worker, who buys a few mobile phones in installments whenever the date of his annual leave approaches and then sells them for cash. I do not know how they sell such devices, and I do not know what he did exactly, but he got stuck with an amount of seven hundred dinars, and more than one case was filed against him. Really, I do not know how some of these companies can lend someone whose salary is two hundred Kuwaiti dinars and then sell it in installments. This topic leads us to another topic related to the citizen’s needs, and I am talking here about the citizen who borrows in order to build his house and not the one who borrows and bears himself a debt in order to travel, because this poor citizen continues to live under the rental system for 20 years, then he obtains a piece of land, and after that he gets on a government loan with support from construction materials amounting to 100 thousand dinars, and the municipality gives him a building rate of 210% on three and a half floors without the basement and exceptions. Of course, many citizens take the full percentage of the construction and start investing all their savings in addition to a loan from commercial banks, and they enter without any guarantees into the fray of construction, contractors, and engineering offices. For most of these citizens, this building will be their first building experience, which means that it will be their first experience in construction. Unfortunately, they are exposed to a lot of cheating and poor finishing, but in the end, the house is completed after a long effort. However, a new problem appears for the citizens, which is home furnishing. This is a large budget, and the citizen cannot borrow from the bank if his borrowing has reached the upper limit, so what does he do? The citizen is forced to buy furniture and electrical equipment by installments from retail companies because the building of the house has been completed and there is no budget available for furniture. But I am talking here about the rest, and there are many, and they will be stuck in this problem. I believe that the solution lies in the government budget and let me tell you how this is done. It is possible for the government to increase the housing loan by fifteen thousand dinars, which is allocated only for furniture. Then the government charges a rate (interest or profit) of 2% from the citizen to be added to his installments, which is an amount of not more than twenty-five dinars per month which is low sum. Thus, the citizens’ problem will be solved, and the government will recover its money along with its profits. The fact that we are now living through the election period and all the candidates are racing for the citizen’s vote and with a very huge smile, it is an opportunity for the citizens to take promises from them to achieve this, because the issue needs legislation, or it may be a useful material for the candidates to gain the confidence of the citizens and solve part of their suffering upon their arrival to the National Assembly, and for the government, it is an opportunity to alleviate the suffering of many citizens, and at the same time, your money is guaranteed with an increase, and it is better and more reliable than lending it to friendly countries.

Stay safe.