Kuwait City, Dec 1 (IANS) Kuwait's ruler Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Wednesday appointed country's defence minister Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as the new prime minister.

The 63-year-old Jaber succeeds Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who resigned Monday, as the Gulf Arab emirate slipped deeper into political crisis due to a bitter struggle between the government and parliament, Xinhua reported.

Jaber is a senior member of the Al-Sabah family, which has ruled Kuwait for over 250 years.

Opposition groups staged weekly rallies since February to demand Nasser to step down, accusing him of failing to stop the trend of corruption, and turn the country's oil revenue into economic growth.

Opposition activists said the demonstrations did not have the nature of the so-called "Arab Spring", as their targets were neither the amir, or ruler nor the ruling family.

Kuwait, whose citizens were granted cradle-to-grave welfare benefits, managed to stave off impacts of the unrest that led to the fall of leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, but lingering political rifts between the government and parliament have delayed major economic reforms.