KUWAIT CITY, 5 April 2005 — Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah yesterday appointed long-serving bureaucrat Bader Mishari Al-Humaidhi as new finance minister.
Humaidhi replaces Mahmud Al-Nuri whose resignation was accepted on Sunday one year after he submitted it following a vote of no-confidence in the outspoken Parliament which he narrowly survived. Nuri was questioned in the 50-seat Parliament in March last year over allegations he squandered public funds. Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said on Sunday the minister’s resignation had been accepted for health reasons.
Since 1986, the new minister had been director general of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), a state-run fund that provides development loans at reduced interest rates.
Humaidhi, 56, holds a university degree in economics and is the emirate’s representative on several international economic bodies.