Kuwaiti MPs Oppose Iraqi Debt Write-Off

KUWAIT CITY, 26 November 2004 — Several Kuwaiti lawmakers vowed yesterday to oppose government plans to write off 80 percent of Iraqi debt, estimated at around $16 billion.

“These billions of dollars they want to write off for Iraq are the funds of the Kuwaiti people,” Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai said in a statement, and said the government would do better to forgive the debts of its own citizens.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah said Wednesday the government will shortly ask Parliament to approve the reduction following a decision by the Paris Club of creditors to write off 80 percent of Iraqi debt.

According to Kuwaiti law, parliament must approve any decision to grant or waive loans to other nations. Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and occupied the emirate for seven months before being evicted by a US-led multinational coalition in the 1991 Gulf War.

A number of other MPs said they will oppose the motion in statements to Al-Anbaa newspaper.

“We will not accept any reduction in the debt ... We will not accept the mediation of any country for writing off the debts of a state that occupied Kuwait in 1990,” tribal MP Abdullah Al-Fahma said.

“MPs are unanimously opposed to conceding a single dinar (to Iraq) ... The debts and compensation are the right of the Kuwaiti people and the state,” tribal MP Ali Al-Hajeri said.

Kuwait has filed compensation claims worth $170 billion with the UN Compensation Commission, which has already approved some $40 billion in payments and paid out about $10 billion.

Late Tuesday, Sheikh Mohammad said that after the necessary parliamentary approval, the government would write off 30 percent of the debt without interest.

Another 30 percent will be cut after Iraq signs an economic reform deal with the International Monetary Fund and the balance after three years.