Press Releases
CBK Press Release on Kuwaiti Banks Financial Performance During the 1st Year of COVID-19 Pandemic
The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) announced that it conducted a comprehensive review of the financial statements of Kuwaiti banks for the year 2020. This was done as part of its ongoing efforts to bolster the financial stability of the banking sector, considered central to the State’s financial system, and ensure its continuous and efficient supply of services to the economy amid highly stressed operating conditions. Thus, the CBK stressed its diligent and proactive monitoring of developments that could affect financial stability. Despite the ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic on local and international economic conditions, the overall conclusion was that the sector had successfully weathered the first year of the crisis.
His Excellency, Governor Dr. Mohammad Y. Al-Hashel, in a statement, said that in addition to being a health crisis, last year’s global pandemic-induced economic crisis was unprecedented in its scope, depth, and impact on economic and financial conditions. The austere lockdown measures shocked both supply and demand, sending global economies into recession and causing a surge in unemployment. Governments intervened as central banks maintained highly accommodative monetary policies to contain the crisis.
