KUWAIT CITY, Nov 18: The government on Tuesday decided to set up a special fund to buy shares on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in a bid to bolster the flagging bourse, the cabinet said.

The government asked Kuwait Investment Authority, which manages the emirate’s estimated $300 billion of surplus, to set up the fund which will operate on a long-term basis, it said in a statement.

The statement gave no figures about the fund’s capital but local media reported that it would be billions of dollars.

A task force set up last month to tackle the economic crisis and headed by the central bank governor, Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz al-Sabah, made the recommendation to establish the fund.

—AFP