Kuwait Records $22.3 Billion Budget Surplus as Oil Revenue Beats Forecast

Kuwait recorded a budget surplus of 6.44 billion dinars ($22.3 billion) in the fiscal year that ended March 31 after oil revenue was more than double the forecast.

State income was 17.69 billion dinars, or 119 percent more than projections, while spending was 11.25 billion dinars, or 7.2 percent lower than estimates, according to data posted on the Finance Ministry’s website today. The data is final.

Oil revenue was 16.58 billion dinars for the fiscal year, compared with a projection of 6.9 billion dinars, the data showed. Non-oil revenue was 1.1 billion dinars, 4 percent below budget. Some 10 percent of revenue will be saved in the Reserve Fund for Future Generations.

The government had forecast a budget deficit of 4.86 billion dinars for the fiscal year, based on an oil price of $35 a barrel. It had a surplus of 2.74 billion dinars in the previous year. Oil is currently trading at about $75.

Kuwait is projecting a budget deficit of 6.6 billion dinars in the current fiscal year that started April 1, based on an oil price of $43 a barrel. Spending is forecast at 16.3 billion dinars and revenue at 9.7 billion dinars.

Parliament in February approved a 30.8 billion-dinar, four- year development plan that includes projects to increase oil and gas production and construction of a railway network, cities and a port on Boubyan Island. Kuwait was the fourth-biggest producer, along with the United Arab Emirates, in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in July. The country produced 2.31 million barrels of oil a day on average, according to Bloomberg data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait at fmacdonald4@bloomberg.net

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