Meet Mariam Al Aqeel, the GCC's first female finance minister

Mariam Al-Aqeel is Kuwait's new finance minister and the first woman in the Gulf region to hold the post.

In her capacity as the finance minister, Al-Aqeel will also head Kuwait Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, state-run KUNA news agency said.

Mariam, who holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Kuwait University, has served as the Minister of State for Economic Affairs since December 2018, and has been appointed Acting Minister of Finance, effective 6 November 2019.

Previous finance minister Nayef Al Hajraf resigned as he was nominated by Kuwait as secretary-general of the six-member GCC, Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

While this is the eighth cabinet in many years, it is expected to serve for less than a year since Kuwait is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in 2020.

Kuwait is the fourth-biggest producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The IMF expects its economy to grow 0.6 percent this year, squeezed by a reduction in oil output as part of an OPEC agreement.

(Writing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@refinitiv.com , editing by Daniel Luiz)