FILE PHOTO: Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah of Kuwait is seen during the Arab Summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, May 31, 2019. REUTERS / Hamad l Mohammed / File Photo
KUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 91, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday for medical checks, and the country’s crown prince will temporarily carry out some of the his tasks, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
He said Sheikh Sabah, who has ruled the OPEC oil producer and US ally since 2006, will undergo several medical checks, but gave no further details.
A royal order was issued assigning Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah, the emir’s appointed successor, “to take over some constitutional jurisdictions of His Highness the Emir temporarily,” KUNA said in a separate statement.
Last year, Sheikh Sabah was admitted to a United States hospital during an official visit there, after suffering what her office described as a setback to health in Kuwait in August. He returned to the Arab Gulf state in October.
The governor of Kuwait’s central bank issued a statement on Saturday after the news of the emir’s hospitalization emphasizing the strength and stability of the dinar currency, which is linked to a weighted basket of the country’s major trading partners.
S&P Global Ratings revised Kuwait’s outlook to “negative” from “stable” on Friday, saying it expects the country’s main liquidity buffer, the General Reserve Fund, to be insufficient to cover the state budget deficit.
The government has been trying to tighten up its finances, which have been hit by low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, and has been rapidly depleting the General Reserve Fund.
Reports by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai, Samar Hassan in Cairo and Ahmed Hagagy in Kuwait; written by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Hugh Lawson
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