Mariam Eqeal Al-Saied Hashem Al-Aqeel ( ar, مريم عقيل السيد هاشم العقيل; born 1968) is a Kuwaiti accountant and politician who was the country's Minister of Finance from December 2019 to February 2020.

Early life and education

Al-Aqeel was born in 1968. She has a degree in accounting from Kuwait University.

Career

From 1990 until 1997, Al-Aqeel was an accountant at the Ministry of Higher Education. She has worked in Ministry of Finance since 1997, as an Auditor at the Public Authority until 2009 and then as Director of Budgeting, Vice President of the Financial Controllers Bureau, and Director General of the Central Statistics Bureau until 2018. She has previously chaired the Joint Financial Controllers Committee at the Ministry of Finance, the Statistical Center of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Board of Trustees of the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics in Jordan. Al-Aqeel was appointed Minister of State for Economic Affairs in December 2018. In March 2019, she was a member of Kuwait's delegation to United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where she praised Kuwait's "magnificent" effort in empowering women. On 6 November 2019, Al-Aqeel was appointed Acting Minister of Finance after the resignation of Nayef Al-Hajraf. She was then appointed to the role in new Prime Minister

Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah ( ar, الشيخ صباح الخالد الحمد الصباح; born 3 March 1953) is a Kuwaiti diplomat and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kuwait from 2019 to 2022. he served in different governmental po ...

's government in December 2019 after the resignation of the

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in a dispute with parliament. She is the first female finance minister in Kuwait and in the

Gulf region The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

. In her role, she heads the country's two major public financial institutions, the Public Institution for Social Security and the Kuwait Investment Authority, the fifth largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. On 14 January 2020 she unveiled the country's budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, forecasting a 9.2b

dinar The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...

deficit to be covered by withdrawals from the Treasury or General Reserve Fund. She said that the government would push the National Assembly to pass a stalled public debt law and advocate legislation to implement selective taxes.

Awards and honours

In 2019, Al-Aqeel received the

Arab Woman of the Year Award The Arab Women of the Year Awards were created in 2015 and are organized by the ''London Arabia Organisation'' with support from the Mayor of London, Regent's University London and The Bicester Village Shopping Collection corporate partners. They a ...

for Achievement in Economic Development Leadership from the Arab Women's Foundation in Britain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aqeel, Mariam Living people 1968 births Kuwait University alumni Women government ministers of Kuwait Finance ministers of Kuwait Female finance ministers