Press Releases

H.E. the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK), Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al-Sabah, announced in a press statement the expansion of the content of CBK's periodic statistical publications, to include aggregate financial data and statistics on both the conventional investment companies and investment companies operating according to the provisions of Islamic Sharia.

H.E the Governor explained that the inclusion of these statistics in CBK's periodic publications was for the purpose of expansion and updating of the database on the financial and banking system, so as to provide those interested in the monitoring of economic and financial developments in the State of Kuwait with more comprehensive indicators, along with improving the bases for decision-making by users of these data and statistics.

H.E the Governor also clarified that the tables highlighting the financial statistics of investment companies, which were recently included in the Central Bank's periodic publications, followed in their design the format of the tables on local banks in these publications. H.E. the Governor added, in this regard, that the newly included financial statistical tables cover both the on-balance sheet activities of investment companies, as well as their contra accounts, which include funds managed on behalf of third parties. H.E. the Governor also noted the tangible development in the aggregate balance sheet figures of these companies over the last few years, as their assets rose from KD 4 billion at end of December 2001 to KD 10.6 billion at end of March 2006, along with the rise in their contra accounts, which encompass funds managed on behalf of third parties and placed in investment portfolios or investment funds, to KD 15.2 billion by end of March 2006.

Furthermore, H.E the Governor also highlighted that the expansion in the scope of CBK's periodic publications -the Monthly Monetary Statistics and Quarterly Statistical Bulletin- falls within CBK's policies and directions that encourage building advanced databases on economic information and statistics for the State of Kuwait, and to make them readily available to users as well as to those interested in monitoring the developments in these data, which is part of the conditions for developing the State of Kuwait into a financial center.

Also, H.E the Governor mentioned that the Central Bank will next start publishing financial statistics on the exchange companies subject to CBK's supervision, and whose aggregate assets reached KD 99.4 million as at end of December 2005, along with publishing data and information on the use of plastic cards (credit cards and ATM debit cards, issued by local banks), to indicate the growth in the volume of such operations, which reflects growing banking awareness among the public. In this regard, H.E the Governor pointed that the total number of plastic cards (credit cards and ATM debit cards) issued by local banks rose from 1.8 million at end of December 2003 to 2.4 million at end of December 2005; also the number and volume of operations involving the use of these cards inside and outside the State of Kuwait (through points-of-sale and ATM machines) rose from 39.1 million operations with a value of KD 3.7 billion in 2003 to 60.9 million operations with a value of KD 5.6 billion in 2005.