NATIONAL OFFSET COMPANY

About NATIONAL OFFSET COMPANY

Kuwait Offset Program was established in accordance with Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 694/1992, and was managed through the Counter-trade “Offset” department within the Ministry of Finance(MOF). Almost two decades later, the National Offset Company (NOC), a state owned (KIA) shareholding corporation, commenced operations on September 2006, to manage the offset program on behalf of MOF as specified in the Management Contract signed between both parties. The Offset Concept: - Offset, as a form of counter-trade, resembles a compulsory commitment requiring transnational corporations that receive large Government contracts to carry out an investment scheme as a prerequisite to a winning contract. - Offset programs are a common and a growing feature of worldwide government procurement contracts, both military and, to a lesser extent, civilian as about 60% of countries with military offset programs impose offset obligations on civilian contracts as well. - Offset has started and become widely applicable in the advanced countries, which accounted for majority of the value of the global offset contracts, then it was extended to the developing countries and economies in transition. - The average offset obligation reached around 100% of the value of the supply contract in Europe, and around 60% in the rest of the World. By comparison, Kuwait imposes an offset obligation of 35% of the monetary value of the supply contract.