Kuwait current account posts nearly $7 bln worth of surplus

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 10, (KUNA): Kuwait’s current account posted KD 2.1 billion ($6.9 billion) worth of surplus in third quarter of 2018, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) said on Thursday. The surplus dropped by 18.6 percent to KD 492.5 million ($1.6 billion) in the same period, compared to the one registered in the second quarter of 2018, amounting to KD 2.6 billion ($8.5 billion), it said in a press release.

The fall was due to decline of the commodity balance and rise of the service account, it added. The current account, basically, signaled decrease of the commodity exports’ value, in contrast to the imports of the same category. Deficit in the service account (net of transactions’ value related to services between residents and nonresidents such as transport, travel, communication and construction) climbed by 1.3 percent, in Q3, at KD 45.6 million ($150.5 million) against Q2, thus reaching some KD two billion ($6.6 billion).

As to the balance of payments (transactions’ financial account including assets’ exchange, financial deductions between residents and non-residents), in Q3, the CBK release reported drop in net growth in the value of external assets for residents, amounting to KD 2.6 million ($ 8.6 billion). As a result of the developments in the main balance accounts, the aggregate status of the payments balance, in Q3, incurred a deficit amounting to KD 448 million ($1.5 billion), against a surplus estimated at KD 961 million ($3.2 billion).

Through a more comprehensive review of the balance of payments considering the net change in value of external assets for some parties registered under the category “the general government,” the aggregate status of the broad-based balance of payments revealed a surplus estimated at KD 2.2 billion ($7.3 billion), in Q3, against a surplus valued at KD 2.3 billion ($7.6 billion) in Q2.

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