KUWAIT CITY: The Kuwait cabinet has approved the 2012/2013 budget projecting a shortfall of 7.3bn dinars ($26bn), mainly through calculating oil income at a very conservative price. Kuwait has projected a budget deficit every year for the past 13 fiscal years but has annually ended up with a healthy surplus, accumulating around $250bn.
The budget, which started on April 1, will be issued by an Emiri decree because parliament was dissolved on Sunday, Finance Minister Falah Al Hajraf said.
The budget projects revenues at 13.9bn dinars ($47.7bn), an increase of 3.7 percent from last year’s estimated income but less than half of actual record income of 30.2bn dinars ($107.5bn).
Spending is projected at a record 21.2bn dinars ($75.6bn), up 9.3 percent on last year’s projections but almost 25 percent higher than last fiscal year’s actual spending of 17bn dinars ($60.5bn). The minister did not provide figures for oil revenue, which normally makes up 95 percent of total income, nor its price in the budget although former finance minister Mustafa Al Shamali had said it was $65 a barrel.
AFP
