Kuwait's sale of its stake in Citigroup earlier this month was not due to a dispute with the U.S. bank, the Gulf Arab state's finance minister said in published remarks on Sunday.

Mustapha al-Shamali told al-Rai newspaper that there is no dispute between the country's sovereign wealth fund the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and Citigroup.

The exit of KIA from its stake in Citigroup for $4.1 billion was not due to any dispute between the two parties but it was an opportunistic investment, Shamali was quoted as saying.

The minister's comment comes days after the Financial Times said that the KIA has held internal discussions about scaling back its banking operations with Citigroup.

Last week, KIA said it had sold its stake in Citigroup, making a $1.1 billion profit.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Thomas Atkins)

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