Oct. 10--KUWAIT -- The National Assembly's financial and economic affairs committee called for a key meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation at the Kuwait Stock Exchange. A leading lawmaker had called on the government to dismiss the market chief. Head of the committee MP Nasser Al-Sane said that the Commerce Minister Ahmad Baqer, Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali, Governor of the Central Bank, Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) Managing Director, besides the Director General of the bourse and a number of local e conomists and investors.

Sane said that during the meeting, the progress made by the government on preparing the Capital Market draft law, which has been under preparation for more than a year, will be discussed. "All MPs and economic bodies have been invited to attend the meeting," he said. The meeting will also study and assess the latest measures taken by the government to stop the slide at the bourse which rebounded strongly yesterday, jumping 3.8 percent to close on 11,905.70 points.

The market has, however, shed more than seven percent during the week that also saw other Gulf stock markets tumble over panic arising from the global financial turmoil. The bourse rebounded after the Central Bank on Wednesday slashed the discount rate by 1.25 percentage points to 4.5 percent and the repo rate from 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent in a bid to make lending cheaper.

The bank also raised the bank lending ceiling from 80 percent to 85 percent of deposits, giving banks more than KD. 1 billion of extra money to lend to clients. The KIA has also been pumping fresh money through investment funds and companies to buy shares on the stock market. The Central Bank is reported to have injected up to KD 400 million into the banking system to help ease a liquidity crunch.

The measures, which are expected to be followed by more steps in the near future, have greatly boosted investor confidence. MP Nasser Al-Duwaila praised the government's latest measures but launched a scathing attack on bourse Director Saleh Al-Falah. Duwaila called on the government to dismiss Falah and the bourse management because it "contributed to the bourse slump" by failing to act on time.

The lawmaker also called on the government to study ways on compensating small investors who most of their savings during the decline, and to form an emergency committee that should take prompt decisions before trading resumes next Sunday. He said that the slump that hit the bourse and affected dealers was because the management failed to take timely decisions to avert the ramifications of the global financial crisis on Kuwait. Duwailah cast doubts over the capability of the bourse management to take neces sary measures to avert future crises and called for its removal.

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