Kuwait’s parliamentary financial and economic committee has approved a bill authorising the creation of Kuwaiti shareholding companies in the country’s refining sector.

Yussif al-Zalzala, the head of the committee said that the deputies had consented to the final wording of the bill, which stipulates that the government will hold 24 per cent of the joint stock companies, state-run Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reports.

Local or foreign businesses would hold 26 per cent, while the remaining 50 per cent would be available for public subscription. Kuwaiti companies, however, willing to join the new firms should be listed with the Kuwait Stock Exchange, Al-Zalzala added.

The Kuwaiti National Assembly, or parliament, passed a first draft the bill on 13 May although the country’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, is yet to sign it in to law. This is likely to happen before the end of the second week of June, say sources close to the emir (MEED 2:6:10).

The law would allow the government to sell state-owned companies and assets to international investors.