DUBAI: Kuwaiti banks aim to increase the number of nationals they employ to 80 percent of their total workforce by the end of 2018, national daily Kuwait Times reported. The increase comes as direct instructions from the Central Bank of Kuwait, which aims at employing more national labor and allowing more job opportunities to citizens. The push is expected to provide 17,000 openings to Kuwaiti nationals in the private sector by implementing extra fees on companies who hire more expat employees than allowed. The country’s “Kuwaitization” project follows similar steps to neighboring Gulf countries’ efforts to ramp up national employment with Saudi Arabia and Oman implementing rules on companies to hire a minimum number of locals into their staff.