LOC16:41
13:41 GMT
KUWAIT, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- The national fund managed by Kuwait Investment
Company (KIC) is performing much better than the market and other funds, said
Chairman Bader Al-Subaie on Sunday.
In an interview with CNBC Arabia, he said that local media reports that the
national fund had lost 25 percent of its value were "completely baseless."
Asked how successful the fund had been in improving the market's situation,
he said that the aim of establishing the fund - as stipulated in the Cabinet -
was to operate on the basis of investment, and not to support the market.
"The fund was supposed to be one of several factors that were meant to
coincide in order to improve the market's climate, especially as it provided
liquidity within the market. However, the fund operated alone, along with the
State's Financial Stability Law, when in fact it was supposed to come
hand-in-hand with other steps," he explained.
Al-Subaie said that the government should have carried out a number of
swift measures, including the implementation of the development plan,
capitalist spending, providing liquidity, tackling the issue of delayed
interest, and buying stumbling assets, all of which had not taken place. (end)
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