To take some pressure off an already over-burdened Ministry of Finance, the Kuwaiti government is introducing changes.
The responsibility for the state-owned Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) is being moved to the Ministry of Communications and Transport by Emiri Decree.
Shaikh Ahmad Al Abdallah Al Sabah, the Minister of Communications who is also Minister of Planning, visited the offices of KAC a few days ago and vowed to support the embattled airline.
An official source at the Ministry of Finance told Gulf News the move to reduce the responsibility of the ministry that oversees many independent and affiliated government institutions and companies comes in the wake of constant criticism of ministers by the National Assembly.
It is also because the country is moving in the direction of establishing a Ministry of Transportation, which will oversee all air, sea, road and rail transport, the source said. The outspoken National Assembly has consistently criticised the Finance Ministry for its handling of the state's economy and in the last ten years it has grilled three ministers who later resigned.
The latest to do so is Finance Minister Mahmoud Al Nouri, who was grilled intensely last March and consequently quit his post but the government has not yet decided on the matter.
In 1994, Nasser Al Roudhan defended himself, but subsequently resigned. In 2001, Yousuf Al Ebrahim narrowly survived a no-confidence vote but resigned anyway.
Kuwait's national carrier has suffered from debt and cash flow problems since the Iraqi invasion of the country in 1990, when it lost 86 per cent of its capital.
It borrowed $1.3 billion for rehabilitation and paid up most of it but has remained in the red for the past 14 years because, as a state airline, it is obliged to employ a higher ratio of nationals at vastly inflated salaries.
Gulf News
