KUWAIT CITY, Jan 13: Data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed that the food subsidy bill provided to eligible recipients declined to about 309.43 million dinars during the first 11 months of 2025, compared to 335.19 million dinars in the same period of 2024, a decrease of 7.7 percent, equivalent to 25.75 million dinars.

The ministry’s data indicated that construction materials continued to receive the largest share of total support, accounting for 51.13 percent, or 158.22 million dinars, despite an annual decline of 17.3 percent from 191.43 million dinars.

In contrast, food support for basic commodities rose to 135.57 million dinars, reflecting a growth of 4.6 percent from 129.566 million dinars, increasing its share of total support to 43.81 percent, up from 38.65 percent. Support for milk and baby food also increased by 10.2 percent, reaching 15.63 million dinars compared to 14.18 million, representing around 5 percent of the total.

The Supply Department received approximately 8,170 requests for construction materials during the first 11 months of 2025, with November recording the highest number of transactions at 791 and June the lowest at 462. Requests for disbursement of construction materials for the first time totaled 6,180, along with 419 renewals of disbursement letters, 75 requests for the exchange of support materials, 365 certificates of interest, and 1,126 certificates of non-receipt of materials.

The number of accumulated ration cards rose to 274,190 by the end of November, compared to 268,620 in the same period of 2024, an increase of 5,570 cards, or 2.07 percent. The number of beneficiaries reached about 2.33 million people, up from 2.25 million, marking a growth of 77,205, or 3.4 percent.

Transactions by beneficiaries of the support program totaled around 175,720, including additions, updates, deletions, and issuances, with October recording the highest number of individual transactions at 18,363 and the lowest at 11,680.

The Ministry of Commerce issued 6,400 new ration cards, renewed 5,420, and deleted 425. Individual transactions included adding 122,625 people to benefit from support, deleting 36,561, and carrying out 4,273 data update operations.