Minister Hind Al-Subaih

KUWAIT: The demographics issue resurfaced with a recommendation from the parliament’s finance committee to deal with the imbalance of the demographic structure and put an end to the overwhelming number of expatriates.

As the committee called for correcting the structure so the number of citizens be half the number of the population, a ratio it called ‘logical,’ Social Affairs Minister and State Minister for Planning and Development Hind Al-Subaih said the issue of dealing with the demographic structure is linked to the issue of dealing with defects and deficit of the budget, and does not target a community in particular.

She said procedures of implementing the demographic roadmap is in its initial stage and all ministries will participate in it, particularly the planning, interior and social affairs ministries. Subaih said there is more than one procedure, adding that dealing with demographic structure does not target certain communities, and only seeks to organize the marketplace and reduce marginal labor. Meanwhile, the Awqaf Ministry designated May 11 as the last day of work for expats who are working on the rewards system, which is an implementation of the ministerial decision in this regard.

An official source at the ministry said the termination decision will cause confusion, and will be corrected through redistribution of workers. He said the termination decision excluded some jobs such as guards, Quran teachers, office boys and others among bedoons (stateless). — Al-Rai