#Kuwait’s $65 Billion Debt Plan in Peril After Draft Law Rejected - Bloomberg

Kuwait’s $65 Billion Debt Plan in Peril After Draft Law Rejected - Bloomberg:

The Kuwaiti parliament’s finance and economic panel turned down a draft bill that might have allowed the government to borrow at home and abroad just as liquid assets in the Treasury come close to being depleted.

“We rejected the public debt law, with 4 against and 1 abstention, because, in the absence of clear and real reform, things won’t be put right,” said the committee’s head, Safa Al-Hashem. The government also failed to explain where any borrowed money would be directed, she said.

It was at least the second time officials attempted to get the contentious bill through parliament. After a debut Eurobond issuance in 2017, Kuwait’s public-debt law lapsed, rendering the government unable to offer bonds.

The bill was designed to raise as much as 20 billion dinars ($65 billion). Its rejection means it won’t move to the house for debate or a vote, leaving the government with the option of possibly seeking to issue the law by decree once the current legislature’s term ends ahead of elections later this year.