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Kuwait receives $2.97b war damages from Iraq

Friday, 22 May 2015 3:06 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 22 May 2015 3:06 PM ]

The Kuwaiti government has received a further $2.97 billion in compensation from the Iraqi government.

Kuwait has received $2.97 billion from Iraq in compensation for environmental damage caused by the Iraqi invasion of the country in 1990.

The transaction took place on Thursday, after the United Nations, which was brokering the compensation program, transferred the funds to the country’s central bank, according to the Kuwaiti government.

Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said that the sum has been deposited into the "Kuwait Fund" to be used for “environmental work and may not be invested.”

The funds "have been transferred to the remaining ones where local banks deposited in a subsidiary of the Kuwaiti Council for environment projects so that there is no room for use in the field of investment for profit,” he told local media.

Shortly after the downfall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, the United Nations Security Council ordered Iraq to pay a total of $52.4 billion it owed Kuwait in reparations for the 1990-1991 invasion.

The Kuwaiti government has been criticized in recent years for not making proper use of the “excessive” funds it holds to diversify the economy more rapidly like its Persian Gulf neighbors are doing.

Kuwait continues to halt the implementation of much-needed economic reforms.

HDS/KA

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