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Kuwait budget passed
Kuwaiti MPs Acil al Awadh (from
left) and Masouma
al Mubarak stand next to Rola Dashti and Salwa al
Jassar after the final session of the parliament’s
current term in Kuwait City yesterday. — AFP
KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s
parliament yesterday approved the 2009-2010 state budget which projects
a sharp drop in revenues and spending due to lower oil prices and a
four-billion-dinar ($13.8 billion) deficit. Forty MPs voted for the
budget, 12 against and two abstained. Revenues for the emirate are
projected at 8.1 billion dinars ($27.9 billion), down 36 per cent from
$43.8 billion of budgeted income in the past fiscal year which closed on
March 31.
Projected spending is slashed by a massive 36.2 per cent to 12.1 billion
dinars ($41.7 billion) from $65.4 billion in last fiscal year’s budget.
Kuwait’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31. The budget was
enacted in a decree by the emir in March after parliament was dissolved.
Under law, the new parliament has the power to approve or reject the
budget decree.
The main drop in the budget is in oil income which contributes more than
90 per cent to total revenues, due to the sharp decline in oil prices.
Projected oil revenues were calculated on the basis of an oil price of
$35 a barrel, down from last year’s $50 a barrel. The main expenditure
cutback is the cancellation of a $19.08 billion one-off payment to the
social security agency, while 24 per cent is slashed from capital
spending, according to the budget decree.
The wages bill for civil servants, more than 70 per cent of whom are
Kuwaitis, has however been boosted by 8.3 per cent. In the past fiscal
year, Kuwait has projected a deficit of $21.47 billion but according to
preliminary figures the emirate posted a surplus of $21 billion.However,
the figure is expected to fall due to end-of-year accounting
adjustments.
Local economic reports have forecast an actual surplus of around $14
billion due to the sharp rise in oil prices in the first half of the
fiscal year. In 2008-2009 fiscal year, the emirate posted a record
income of $72.3 billion, up 66.7 per cent over budget projections.
Provisional figures show spending at $51.3 billion. Oil revenues came in
at $68.1 billion, or 94 per cent of total income. — AFP |
