Kuwait posts biggest financial deficit in its history

Kuwaiti Finance Minister Khalifa Hamadeh said his country recorded a financial deficit in fiscal year 2020/2021, which ended on March 31, 2021, amounting to 10.8 billion dinars, which is the highest in Kuwaiti history, as the second largest on record. The budget deficit for fiscal year 2015/2016 amounted to 10.8 billion dinars, including 5.98 billion dinars due to the sharp drop in the average price of a barrel of Kuwaiti oil.

The Ministry of Finance has published a statement of the final account of the financial management of the State, in which the total of the real revenue of the budget for the fiscal year 2020/2021 amounts to approximately 10.5 billion dinars, that is to say a 38.9% decrease compared to the previous year. , where real oil revenues amounted to 8.79 billion dinars, a decrease of 42.8% compared to the previous year, while real non-oil revenues amounted to 1.73 billion dinars , down 6.5% compared to the previous year.

The total actual expenditure amounted to 21.3 billion dinars, an increase of 0.7% compared to the previous year, with a saving of 862 million dinars on the approved budget, bringing the effective deficit to 10 , 8 billion dinars, an increase of 175%.

The actual average price of a barrel of oil for fiscal year 2020/2021 was around $ 42.36 per barrel, and the production volume stood at 2.5 million barrels per day.

Hamadeh said that it is remarkable that the budget execution rate and the size of the financial transaction rates are within the normal rates thanks to the efforts of the country’s financial system, starting with the finance ministry and moving on. by the controllers and specialists in various financial departments of government agencies, where the budget execution rate has exceeded 96% and is considered the highest years ago.

The state financial administration final account data for fiscal year 2020/2021 revealed that the costs of producing a barrel of Kuwaiti oil in the last fiscal year were about $ 2.59 billion. dinars, with production volume of 2.5 million barrels per day, while the average price of a barrel of Kuwaiti oil for the year was around $ 42.36 per barrel, according to Kuwaiti newspaper Al- Anbaa.

expenses

The data revealed that the actual capital expenditure of the projects budgeted for the 2020/2021 fiscal year amounted to only about 1.9 billion dinars, registering a decrease of 27.5% compared to the actual expenditure of the financial year 2020/2021. previous financial year of 2.6 billion dinars. , while actual capital expenditure was recorded in fiscal year 2020/2021. A 34% decrease from the capital expenditure approved in the budget.

The data from the final account of the state financial administration for fiscal year 2020/2021 showed that the total expenditure for salaries and support during the last fiscal year amounted to 15.6 billion dinars, the wages and the like amounting to approximately 11.85 billion dinars.

Subsidies amounted to 3.7 billion dinars, a decrease of 7% compared to the previous year of 4 billion dinars, while it increased by 4.4% compared to the volume of approved subsidies. in the 2020/2021 budget.

financial deficit

The data revealed that the actual deficit reached by the budget of Kuwait in the last two fiscal years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 was around 14.7 billion dinars.

The budget deficit for last year was 10.8 billion dinars, while the budget deficit for the previous year was 3.9 billion dinars.