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Kuwait Times

Finance Minister Fassam resigns

Mukhaizeem becomes acting Finance Minister • Gaza fundraising campaign nets KD 2m KUWAIT: An Amiri decree was issued on Monday accepting the resignation of Finance Minister Noura Al-Fassam and appointing Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Sabeeh Al-Mukhaizeem as Acting Finance Minister. Fassam was appointed as minister of finance and minister of state for economic affairs and investment in August 2024, replacing Anwar Al-Mudhaf who had also resigned. No reason was given for her sudden resignation. Before her appointment in the Cabinet, Fassam had experience of more than two decades in official and private economic posts including stints with the Kuwait Investment Authority, National Bank of Kuwait and Boubyan Bank. Under her short tenure, Kuwait issued its first public debt law in several years allowing the state to borrow KD 30 billion over the next half century. Also, under Fassam, Kuwait issued a law imposing a 15 percent tax on profits of multinational enterprises which envisages to collect some KD 250 million of taxes annually. Also, several months ago, a decree was issued allowing the government to raise charges on public services, replacing a law that was issued in 1992 banning the government from raising public charges without the prior approval of the national assembly. Kuwait has posted a budget deficit almost every year since 2015 because of the sharp drop in the price of oil, whose income contributes to about 90 percent of Kuwait's public revenues. In the meantime, another Amiri decree was issued Monday appointing five members to KIA board of directors which is headed by the finance minister. KIA, is Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, and manages hundreds of billions of dollars of state surplus in overseas holdings. Unofficial reports put Kuwait's foreign assets at well over $1 trillion. In another development, an official campaign to raise funds for assisting Gaza has netted close to KD 2 million in its second day, official figures showed. The campaign ends on Tuesday. Since the start of the Zionist aggression on Gaza in October 2023, Kuwait has dispatched dozens of tons of material aid to Palestinians.