Kuwait city: Kuwaiti Finance Minister Nayef Al Hajraf Wednesday survived a no-confidence in the parliament called in response to an interpellation motion tabled by 10 lawmakers.
Al Hajraf won 32 votes against 16 in the no-confidence session attended by 48 of the 50-strong assembly, the official Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.
At the centre of the motion are controversial interest rates on loans offered to pensioners, seen by critics as illegal and a sort of usury prohibited in Islam.
“You have placed confidence in me for the second time,” Al Hajraf told lawmakers after the vote. “This trust implies a major victory not for my person, but for our democratic course of action,” he added.
Kuwait’s Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah congratulated the minister on the parliament’s renewed confidence, KUNA reported. Shaikh Sabah hailed what he called the “lofty democratic practice” during the query.
It was the second time for Al Hajraf to survive a no-confidence vote in less than a month.
