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Kuwait budget deficit hits $6.43bn

October 16, 2017 at 3:46 am

Former Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on 14 September 2017 [Ali Balıkçı/Anadolu Agency]

Kuwait’s general budget has registered a KWD 1.94 billion ($6.43 billion) deficit in the first half of the financial year 2017-2018 which was concluded last September, official data by the Kuwaiti finance ministry revealed today.

The Kuwaiti financial year begins in early April and lasts until the end of March of the following year, according to the Kuwaiti Budget Law.

The ministry noted that the achieved deficit during the year’s first half represents 25 per cent of the total planned deficit for the entire financial year, which amounts to KWD 7.9 billion ($26.23 billion ).

The total state public revenues, the ministry added, recorded KWD 7.02 billion ($23.3 billion), while the government expenditure amounted to KWD 6.74 billion ($22.4 billion) during the first half of the last financial year.

During the same period, the state has achieved a KWD 6.36 billion ($21 billion) of oil revenues, the ministry pointed out. It has also earned KWD 228 million ($756 million) of taxes during the same period.

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