Closing bell: Saudi main index rises to close at 11,906 

RIYADH: Kuwait recorded its first budget surplus of 6.4 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($20.86 billion) in nine years, as oil revenue boosted the country’s exchequer during the financial year 2022-2023, the finance ministry has announced.      

Kuwait, whose financial year ends on March 31, saw a 54.7 percent surge in revenue to 28.8 billion Kuwaiti dinars from the 18.6 billion Kuwaiti dinars recorded during the previous year.      

In its closing accounts, the ministry reported that oil comprised 92.7 percent of the aggregate revenue during the past year, with the average oil price at $97.1.      

“Kuwait enjoys a strong financial position, significant reserves, and monetary and financial stability, all of which shield us from the short-term effects of oil market fluctuations,” said Minister of Oil Saad Hamad Nasser Al-Barrak, speaking to Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. International. 

The minister’s comments came just weeks after he pledged investment of more than $300 billion in the country’s energy sector by 2040.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, the emirate’s daily production rate touched 2.693 million barrels, accounting for approximately 7 percent of global reserves, showed the ministry’s data. 

Since the collapse of oil prices in 2014, its budget has constantly registered deficits. However, Kuwait saw an upturn with the increase in oil prices that followed the Ukraine war.   

The country’s draft budget for the next fiscal year estimated a deficit of 6.8 billion dinars hit by lower oil prices and volumes, a local paper reported earlier this month, citing a member of parliament.   

The draft budget for the year beginning April 1 estimated oil revenue of 17 billion dinars, down 19.5 percent from 2022-2023, according to an Al-Dustor report shared by parliament’s Twitter account, citing MP Osama Al-Zaid.   

The draft budget was based on an oil price of $70 a barrel, Al-Zaid told Al-Dustor.   

Kuwait has complied with production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia while making slow progress in diversifying revenue sources compared with its Gulf neighbors.   

Feuding between successive appointed governments and elected parliaments in the OPEC member state has hampered fiscal reform for years, including a debt law that would allow Kuwait to tap international markets and address its heavy reliance on oil, according to Reuters.