Kuwait formed a new cabinet on Tuesday with a new finance minister and including three opposition lawmakers following a standoff between previous governments and the parliament, Reuters reported.

Oil Minister Mohammad al-Fares was reappointed.

Abdul Wahab Al-Rasheed, head of the non-governmental Kuwait Economic Society, replaced Khalifa Hamada as finance minister.

The new health minister is Khaled Al-Saeed, whose predecessor had steered Kuwait through the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is the Gulf state's third cabinet this year after the previous governments resigned in the standoff that had hindered state efforts for fiscal reform.

The government has tried to temporarily boost finances while more structural and fiscal reforms remain deadlocked, including a debt law to tap international markets.

State media said Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who had taken steps to defuse the standoff, approved the cabinet despite having handed over most constitutional duties in November to the crown prince, who issued the decree on the cabinet formation.