Speaking with DebtWire, AGSIW Senior Resident Scholar Karen E. Young commented on Kuwait’s planned bond issue and economic reform: “Unlike other GCC members, Kuwaiti politics are more contested and recent parliamentary elections have ushered in a number of new MPs who are less amenable to the economic reform agenda, particularly in the reduction of subsidies, and many who are aligned with a more populist opposition movement, some with an Islamist affiliation. These electoral politics could make financial governance and reform more complicated.” Young continued, “The delay in going to bond markets could be seen as letting some time pass since the November 2016 elections and for the government to build consensus for its reforms.”