Kuwait’s Emir HH Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah underwent successful surgery, Minister of Amiri Diwan Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al Sabah said, after being admitted to hospital on Saturday for medical checks.
A royal order was issued on Saturday assigning Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah, the emir’s designated successor, to take over some constitutional jurisdictions of His Highness the Emir temporarily.
Kuwait’s central bank governor issued a statement on Saturday after news of the emir’s hospitalisation stressing the strength and stability of the dinar currency, which is pegged to a weighted basket of the country’s big trading partners.
S&P Global Ratings on Friday revised Kuwait’s outlook to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’, saying it expects the country’s main liquidity buffer, the General Reserve Fund, to be insufficient to cover the state budget deficit.
The government has been trying to bolster its finances which have been hit by low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, and has been rapidly running down the General Reserve Fund.
