Draft:Souk al manakh

Souk Al Manakh was an unofficial stock exchange operated from 1978 to 1982 in Kuwait. It was created by a group of traders who wanted to invest and trade shares and stocks that were not available in the official Kuwait stock exchange, Boursa. By 1981, nearly 40 stocks of companies in non-Kuwaiti Gulf countries were trading on the Souk. By the summer of 1982, Souk Al Manakh was the third biggest stock exchange in the world behind USA and Japan, surpassing UK with the estimated value of $100 Billion ($312 Billion in 2023, adjusted for inflation).

History
Souk Al Manakh was created by a group of traders who wanted to invest in stocks that were not available in the official stock exchange, Boursa. The name translates to "The Market at the resting place for camels". It was located in an air-conditioned parking garage in the historic area of Jibla, Kuwait City.

The Oil Embargo of 1973 in response to the west's support for Israel in Yom Kippur war shot up the oil prices causing massive profits for oil producing countries, as a result, citizens in the Middle East became rich and started to invest their money in stocks. One such stock trading company in Kuwait was set up called, Boursa which was the official stock exchange of Kuwait.

Crash of 1982
See: Souk Al-Manakh stock market crash

Share dealings using postdated checks created a huge unregulated expansion of credit. The crash of the unofficial stock market finally came in August 1982, when a dealer presented a postdated check from a young Passport Office employee for payment and it bounced. By September 1982, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Finance ordered all dubious checks to be turned in for clearance and shut down the Souk Al-Manakh. The official investigation summed the value of worthless outstanding checks at the equivalent of US$94 billion from about 6,000 investors. Kuwait's financial sector was badly shaken by the crash, as was the entire economy.