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Qatar and the UAE used Kuwait’s National Day on 25 February as the moment to name two roads after the late Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who died in September 2020.

Kuwaiti logistics firm Agility Public Warehousing Company has lost an arbitration case against the Iraqi government over a decision to strip it of its shareholding in Erbil-headquartered Korek Telecom. Agility filed a request for arbitration in February 2017 with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Iraqi government over its handling of the matter.

Governments in the Gulf and across the wider region have maintained their defence spending despite the pressures brought on by low oil revenues and the year-long Covid-19 crisis. This may not be sustainable in the medium-term, but the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) expects defence spending this year to hold up relatively well, in part because defence spending has historically been a priority area.

A review of gifts given to ministers at the UK’s foreign affairs ministry over the past decade shows that by far the most consistent and generous givers are Middle East governments and, in particular, the Gulf states. Between early 2010, when available records begin, to the most recent filing covering Q1 2020, a total of 36 countries offered presents to British foreign ministers, but the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries between them accounted for 55% of all the 130 gifts handed over. Saudi Arabia alone was responsible for one-fifth of all the presents.

Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Sabah is due go on trial in Switzerland on 22 February on charges of forgery. The case at the Tribunal Correctionnel in Geneva is expected to last five days but it is unclear how quickly a verdict will be announced. His lawyers told the AP news agency he would attend the hearings.

Longstanding deputy foreign minister Khaled Al-Jarallah – for decades the late Emir Sheikh Sabah Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s right-hand man – has been replaced at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) by Jamal Al-Ghanem. The move signals a shift away from the Sheikh Sabah era, when much time and energy were devoted to foreign policy and regional diplomacy. It comes amid calls from opposition MPs for foreign affairs minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah to also be replaced.

Prime minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah appears to have no real plan for passing a new debt law through the National Assembly, despite another large deficit forecast in the 2021/22 budget, announced on 25 January, of KD12.1bn ($40bn). This is based on an average oil price of $45/bbl. Kuwait needs around $90/bbl to balance its budget. The Central Bank of Kuwait continues to reduce the value of the dinar as a way to fix its deteriorating balance of payments issues; the currency has lost 5% of its value against the dollar since March 2020.

North Korea’s acting ambassador to Kuwait, Ryu Hyun Woo, defected to Seoul last year, in an episode first reported in the South Korea media on 25 January.

Kuwait remains stuck at a crossroads, as the government opts to avoid confrontation or meaningful compromise with opposition forces inside and outside the National Assembly (parliament). Still formally without a cabinet since the  mid-January resignation of prime minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah’s government, outgoing ministers continue to operate in a caretaking capacity.

Umm Al-Qaiwain Ruler Sheikh Saud Bin Rashid Al-Mualla received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine on 10 January. Fujairah Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi received his first jab of the vaccine on 13 January.

There was no great surprise when prime minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah’s government resigned in mid-January: this had been widely expected amid rising tensions between the executive and the National Assembly (parliament) in the period since the 5 December general election. In a three-stage process, deputy prime minister Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al-Sabah offered the resignation of all cabinet ministers at a meeting with Sheikh Sabah at Seif Palace on 12 January.

Risk Management Report – GSN Risk Grade – B↓2 Overview Politics: Governed by the Al-Sabah family since the 18th century, Kuwait gained independence from Britain in 1961, with a constitution confirming the hereditary monarchy but giving significant powers to an independent judiciary and elected assembly.

The government of prime minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah appears to be at imminent risk of collapse, following parliamentary elections and controversy over the re-election of longstanding National Assembly speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem. There were hopes the new Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah would usher in a new era of co-operation between the region’s only democratic assembly and the executive, but this has not proved the case.

The Al-Salem branch of Kuwait’s ruling Al-Sabah family is gaining in influence once again, having been given two key cabinet posts by prime minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah in December, following the National Assembly (parliament) elections.

Vaccination programmes have begun across the Gulf. Rulers and politicians have been publicly rolling up their sleeves to get a shot, with local newspapers praising their leaders for inspiring confidence among the local population that the vaccines are safe to receive.