The cabinet of Kuwait’s prime minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah submitted its resignation on 5 April just a day before parliament was due to hold a no-confidence vote. This is the fourth such resignation since Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid’s initial appointment in late 2020 (MEES, 11 December 2020), and the outgoing government was only formed in January (MEES, 7 January). Volatility stemming from government-parliament friction has held up planned reforms and key capital reforms for years.
In January, Fitch Ratings downgraded Kuwait from AA to AA- due to “ongoing political constraints” impacting the government’s ability to pass a much-needed debt law, reduce bloated spending, and diversify the economy away from oil reliance. On 4 April, local Kuwaiti Al Anbaa reported that finance ministry documents showed that since “the public debt law’s validity ended in October 2017,” Kuwait withdrew “about KD19.8bn ($65bn) from its General Reserve Fund’s (GRF). The fund is nearly exhausted now (MEES, 28 January). (CONTINUED - 156 WORDS)