Kuwait PM submits resignation of cabinet

Agencies | Kuwait City

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Sabah yesterday submitted the resignation of his cabinet to the country's crown prince, state news agency KUNA reported.

Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who has taken over most of the emir's duties, last year named Sheikh Ahmad as premier and called early legislative polls after dissolving the previous parliament to end feuding that impeded fiscal reforms.

Tensions recently resurfaced between parliament and the government, sworn in last October, as lawmakers pressed for a debt relief bill, under which the state would buy Kuwaiti citizen's personal loans, and sought to question two ministers.

The prime minister submitted the government's resignation to the crown prince "as a result of what has become of the relationship between the executive and legislative authorities", KUNA cited a cabinet statement as saying.

Parliament had been scheduled to convene on Tuesday.

MP Shuaib Al Muwaizri, head of parliament's financial and economic affairs committee, had said in a Twitter post on Sunday that personal debt relief would remain on the table until the government "officially presents just alternatives" to increase wages, pensions and social assistance for Kuwaitis.