A populist plan to pay off private debts is another sign of Kuwait’s ills

IN OCTOBER KUWAIT’S finance ministry sent a stern message to the government: no frivolous spending. Yes, oil prices were high and the deficit had narrowed, but this was a time for fiscal discipline. And yet a few weeks later lawmakers introduced a bill that would force the state to pay for new cars, holidays or indeed anything else citizens might have bought on credit.Under the proposal, the government would buy up billions of dinars’ worth of consumer loans. It would write off the interest and schedule repayments on the principal over a long period, with monthly instalments deducted from a cost-of-living allowance paid to citizens. The state would, in effect, pay off private debts.