We are hoping that in 2010 most of the companies will have ironed out their problems, just like Global Investment House did. Hence, a lot of them had to report huge realized or unrealized losses on their balance sheet in an effort to accommodate the new prices after the huge correction we witnessed in the market. In addition to that, many of these companies have suffered from liquidity problems when banks became more conservative in lending. We have seen a lot of the assets they invest in finance and real estate depreciate in value as these industries have been hit the hardest and this has taken a toll on those investment companies. Maha Al Ghunaim: Obviously the years 20 have been very difficult for both investment banks and companies. How do you assess the situation of Kuwait’s investment banking sector and its ability to overcome the financial crisis? Global Investment House expects that the fiscal year 2010 will see Kuwait get back on the right track for around 3% growth. This means that Kuwait will enjoy a very impressive budget surplus of around USD 20 billion, which, along with the KD 25 billion fiscal spending package that was recently introduced by the government, should help steer Kuwait in the right direction. Following that, I think things will get back on track, as we are still extremely bullish about oil prices and our expectation that they will stay in the range of $70 to $80.00. Maha Al Ghunaim: I think Kuwait was effected because of the low oil prices we witnessed in the first half of 2009 where we saw prices decline to somewhere in the range of USD 30.00, which obviously ended up effecting the production levels.
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