Abu Dhabi, UAE — Kuwait estimates a deficit of 6.8 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($22.2 billion) in the draft budget for 2023-2024 on the back of lower oil prices and volumes, the country’s Al Dustor newspaper reported.
Following a discussion by parliament’s Budget and Final Accounts Committee, Osama Al-Zaid, the committee’s rapporteur and MP, said that the draft budget estimates oil revenues of 17 billion Kuwaiti dinars, a 19.5 percent decrease from the previous budget.
Al-Zaid said non-oil revenues were estimated at 2.2 billion dinars, an increase of 10 percent over the previous budget.
He said, “In general, oil revenues still dominate the state’s general budget, and this is not good and unhealthy for the state. It is necessary to work as a council and government to find alternative sources of income to enhance non-oil revenues in the state’s general budget.”
Al-Zaid estimated expenditures at 26.2 billion dinars, an increase of 11.7 percent over the previous budget, which he said will lead to the estimated deficit of 6.8 billion dinars.
He reassured that the budget deficit is an estimated deficit, not a real one, and “we will be able to avoid it by maximizing state revenues, controlling expenditures, and preventing financial waste”.
He stressed that the state’s financial condition is excellent if foreign investment revenues are added to it