Which unofficial Kuwaiti stock market crashed in 1982?

The unofficial Kuwaiti stock market that crashed in 1982 was Souk Al-Manakh. It operated alongside Kuwait’s official exchange and focused heavily on speculative trading in non-Kuwaiti companies.

The market grew after tighter regulations followed an earlier 1977 crash in Kuwait’s official stock market. Speculators moved into the less-regulated Souk Al-Manakh, where trading expanded rapidly. Investors often used postdated checks, creating a huge web of credit that was vulnerable to even a single failed payment.

The crisis erupted in August 1982 after a postdated check bounced. By September, authorities ordered questionable checks to be submitted for clearance and shut down the market. The value of outstanding worthless checks was estimated at roughly $94 billion, involving about 6,000 investors.

Souk Al-Manakh was not the same as modern Boursa Kuwait. Its collapse damaged Kuwait’s banks and economy and, combined with falling oil revenues during the Iran–Iraq War, contributed to a wider Gulf recession.