Kuwait expects $30.4bn budget deficit next fiscal year

The Kuwaiti ministry of finance said yesterday that the budget deficit is set to increase by 11.2 per cent year-on-year to reach 9.2 billion KWD ($30.4 billion) in the fiscal year 2020/2021 after depositing 10 per cent of the country’s revenues in the sovereign wealth fund.

The ministry said in a statement that the deficit is higher than the estimates for the current fiscal year, amounting to 8.26 billion KWD ($27 billion).

The fiscal year in Kuwait starts in early April and ends on March 31 of the following year.

The budget deficit before deducting the sovereign wealth fund’s share amounted to about 7.7 billion KWD ($25.4 billion) compared with 6.6 billion KWDs ($21.8 billion) estimated this fiscal year.

READ: Kuwait’s foreign reserve rises to historic record 

The ministry expected revenues of 14.8 billion KWD ($48.9 billion) compared with 15.8 billion KWD ($52.2 billion dollars) estimated in the 2019/2020 year.

The ministry expected spending of 22.5 billion KWD ($74.3 billion) for the 2020-2021 budget.

The budget expected the country to produce about 2.7 million barrels of oil per day, compared to about 2.8 million barrels produced this year.

Oil revenues constitute about 80 per cent of the government’s revenue.