Kuwait bans cash payments for real estate, gold, and precious stones transactions

Kuwait moves to close money-laundering loopholes flagged by global watchdog: The Kuwaiti government is banning cash transactions for the purchase of gold, precious stones, metals, and real estate, according to decrees No. 172 and No. 173 from the Commerce and Industry Ministry. Under the new rules, payments now must run through central bank-approved non-cash channels, which effectively also bans non-cash gold and metal exchange between consumers and businesses.

The decisions also introduce enhanced know-your-customer (KYC) requirements for high-risk or high-value transactions in precious metals and real estate. That means tighter due diligence for transactions involving politically exposed persons and nationals from high-risk jurisdictions as identified by the Kuwait Financial Intelligence Unit, as well as sales worth more than KWD 3k (USD 9.7k) in the case of gold, precious stones and metals. The new rules also require traders and brokers to keep transaction records for five years after their close.

Why it matters: The AML global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) added Kuwait to its gray list last February, a status that complicates cross-border banking and makes it harder for foreign players to do business in listed jurisdictions. The recent rewrite of compliance rules aims to address the concerns that FATF flagged in its decision: weak supervision on non-banking sectors like gold dealers and real estate brokers. Since then, Kuwait ramped up its crackdown on violators, issuing KWD 141.5k in fines against businesses in these sectors in 2Q.

Rehabilitation loading

The Syria Petroleum Company (SPC) restarted two natural gas wells at the Conoco field in Deir Azzor Province in eastern Syria, after the field’s wells were severely damaged over ten years ago during the civil war. The restart could add as much as 1.5 mn cbm of gas per day, helping Syria plug in more gas into its national networks that are now dependent on gas imports.

Oil fields in the eastern province are coming next, SPC CEO Yousef Qiblawi told Syria’s state news agency Sana, while gas from the restarted two fields will be pumped to power electricity generation in southern provinces. Syria is aiming to double its local gas production to 15 mn cbm / d by the end of 2026, up from 7 cbm / d, Syrian Energy Minister Mohammad Al Bashir said last December.

IN CONTEXT- Syria’s central government regained control over oil and gas fields in Deir Azzor last January after reaching an agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which controlled the area since ISIS’ defeat in 2019. The Conoco field has five wells, and rehabilitation is currently ongoing in the remaining three wells.

Temporary relief

Baghdad’s private electricity generators are set to get fuel at subsidized rates for September, providing them with temporary relief as the government pushes for fuel subsidies reform that entered into effect on paper on 1 September. Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi issued the decision on Wednesday, stipulating a provision rate of IQD 400 per liter of fuel — the same subsidized rate that still goes to household consumers.

The move came after a standoff that saw private operators turn off their generators on Tuesday in protest, citing the government’s “inadequate support,” Iraqi daily Shafaq reported. The government is aiming to limit dependence on private operators in Baghdad to just four hours a day — an ambitious target given how critical their generators have been in filling in the shortage in grid-supplied electricity.

The carve-out for private electricity generators is a real test for the reform push. Several Iraqi governments have made several attempts to reform the country’s fuel and electricity subsidy systems, but failed to get to the finish line amid public backlash and pressure from powerful interest groups that benefit from the subsidies, we reported this week in our deep dive into the subsidies reform push. The current push spares households, but ends fuel subsidies for commercial, industrial, and the power generation sectors. Whether Al Zaidi persists or succumbs to pressure on this reform is a key thing to watch.

Guards up

Turkey is mulling a full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — the China-led economic and security bloc founded in 2001 and now includes Central Asia nations(except Turkmenistan), Pakistan, India, Iran, and Belarus. “Turkey’s prospect of (full) ​membership to the organisation does not imply a breakaway ​from any other ​bloc or from the West,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists.

Turkey, a member of the West-aligned defense alliance Nato, has been increasingly diversifying its political and defense alliances, despite concerns that some of these moves might come at odds with its position in Nato. Last month, the country signed a Joint Defense Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan that treats an armed attack on one of them as an attack on all — an alliance that Turkey said is still open for new members like Egypt. The move comes on top of Turkey announcing its intention to become one of the founding members of a Canada-led initiative to launch a multilateral defense-focused bank called the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB). The new bank aims to raise up to USD 134 bn in capital and secure a triple-A credit rating that would allow it to lend cheaply to member states to support industrial spending on defense.

On the water

Gulf money is circling Cairo’s Nile front. The Housing Ministry is weighing bids from Gulf investors to build residential, office, and hotel projects in the Maspero Triangle and along the Corniche, a government source tells us. The steer is toward equity partnerships that leave the state holding a stake rather than selling the land outright — though there are no names, figures, or timelines attached yet.