Kuwait budget in deficit

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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 16: The country recorded a deficit of KD 1.94 billion in its general budget in the first half of fiscal 2017/2018, reports Al-Rai daily quoting the monthly financial report released by the Ministry of Finance.

The ministry said the achieved deficit in the first half of the financial year constitutes 25 percent of KD 7.9 billion — the total planned deficit for the whole year. The total revenue amounted to KD 7.03 billion; including KD 228.07 million taxes and charges, KD 13.59 million social contributions to the economy and KD 384.94 million other revenue items; while the government expenditure amounted to KD 6.75 billion within the same period. Also, the country achieved 54.4 percent of the estimated oil revenue for the first half of the current fiscal year — KD 11.71 billion.

The deficit is the difference between total expenditure and total revenue, excluding financial settlements between the Finance Ministry and government bodies; therefore, this figure could decrease after such settlements. According to OPEC data, Kuwait’s oil production reduced by 1,700 barrels per day in September; reaching daily production of 2.7 million barrels per day.

In addition, a source disclosed that Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh previously estimated the deficit for the current fiscal year to reach KD 7.9 billion after deducting the amount allocated for the Future Generations Fund.

The source quoted Al-Saleh as saying that the total revenue is estimated at KD 13.3 billion and the expenditure at KD 19.9 billion. It is worth mentioning that Kuwait recorded budget deficit in 2015/2016 for the first time in 16 years — about KD 5.9 billion, amid the drastic drop of global oil prices which affected the oil revenue of the country.

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