MPs pass debt relief law as govt abstains – Ministers, lawmakers call for more amendments to bill

The National Assembly yesterday provisionally passed the debt relief law that requires the state to bail out citizens who took loans before March 30, 2008, but the government opposed the legislation and said major amendments must be made. Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali said the government cannot accept a law in which the cost is not known after the Assembly’s financial and economic affairs committee pushed “the door wide open” for more debtors to be covered by the law. “We don’t know the cost of the law which could be between KD 1 billion and KD 4 billion,” Shamali told the house.

Thirty-three MPs voted for the law, three opposed it while 20 others, including 15 Cabinet ministers, abstained. State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said “the government rejects the law in its current form” but as a sign of cooperation with the house, “we will abstain” in the voting. MPs and the government then agreed that they will study any amendments to the law before the second round of voting which is expected in the coming few weeks.

Read more: http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2013/03/19/mps-pass-debt-relief-law-as-govt-abstains-ministers-lawmakers-call-for-more-amendments-to-bill/