Oil-rich Kuwait will not have sufficient funds to cover public servants’ salaries after November. The Gulf state’s Finance Minister Barak Al-Sheetan confirmed that his country’s government is withdrawing from its General Reserve Fund at a rate of 1.7 billion dinars a month.

The Middle East Monitor reports Al Sheetan said that if oil prices don’t improve and if Kuwait cannot borrow from local and international markets, Kuwait’s liquidity will soon be depleted. Al-Sheetan added, “In the medium to long-term, in the absence of borrowing, more austerity measures will have to be applied to public spending.”

According to MEMO the International Monetary Fund expects the government’s financial needs to grow at a rapid rate as its liquidity position weakens.

MP Riyadh Al-Adsani countered the Finance Ministers warnings. He said, “Al-Sheetan has to leave his position instead of threatening the citizens with their salaries.” He said that Al Sheetan had produced a document that included “unrealistic” solutions for the crisis.

With Kuwait’s economy, like the rest of the world’s, having been adversely affected by the coronavirus outbreak and the decline in oil prices, the OPEC agreement to reduce oil production has dealt a further blow to the state’s financial well-being.

Umm Muhammed Umar