ties are tolerated by the government.7
Although the Souk al Manakh remains an unofficial stock market, the Kuwaiti government has, over time, acted to both restrict the activities occurring within the market, and to correct economic harm resulting from some of these activities. One example of the problems occurring in the Souk al Manakh resulted when the traders in this unofficial market, began to experiment with a type of unregulated futures trading. This futures trading was accomplished by the purchaser giving to the seller a post dated check for the shares being purchased. The amount of this post dated check included a premium over the market price of the shares at the time of the purchase. In this futures trading, the shares being purchased were physi cally transferred to the purchaser, although the purchase price had not been collected.
The purchaser was then free to use the shares to de
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