KUWAIT: A preliminary agreement was reached between the commerce ministry and labor offices to raise prices of bringing in domestic helpers, informed sources told Kuwait Times. "Domestic help offices' union's meetings with the commerce and industry ministry resulted in an agreement to raise fees, but the dispute now is over deregulating prices and canceling a previous decision that fixed the price at KD 890, or set a higher recruitment fee," the sources said.

The sources said the commerce ministry was convinced by the justifications of the union, as the costs for bringing in labor including airline tickets is KD 1,200, compelling the consumer to pay more than KD 890, which is the current price.

Sources said commerce ministry's cancellation of the KD 890 fee is imminent and could be made next month at the latest, at the end of the summer break and return of travelers, when demand for domestic help increases. The new prices are expected to vary between KD 1,100 and KD 1,400.

Sources said Saudi Arabia stopped bringing in helpers from the Philippines, which made the workers available for Kuwait, but the demand will not be met if Filipino helpers return to Saudi Arabia. They said Riyadh's ban made offices in the Philippines send their workers to Kuwait at prices that agree with what the commerce ministry decided.