#Kuwait Is Said to Plan Drawdown From Sovereign Wealth Fund - Bloomberg

Kuwait Is Said to Plan Drawdown From Sovereign Wealth Fund - Bloomberg

Kuwait’s government has submitted a draft law to parliament requesting permission to withdraw as much as 5 billion dinars ($16.5 billion) a year from the country’s sovereign wealth fund, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The withdrawal request from the Future Generations Fund -- the first since the Gulf War -- is to aid in financing the country’s spiraling deficit, the people said, along with a planned debt law which the government is hoping to push through. The government wants to help fund the deficit through cash and debt, one of the people said, asking not to be named.

The $600 billion Future Generations Fund, managed by the Kuwait Investment Authority, is meant to safeguard the Gulf Arab nation’s wealth for a time after oil. Earlier this month, the government transferred the last of its performing assets to the fund in exchange for cash to plug a monthly budget deficit of $3.3 billion.