Unveiling of the Kuwaiti budget this year was delayed several months as the ongoing political crisis between the government and the opposition continued to paralyze decision making. Parliament was dissolved in October and fresh elections are scheduled for 1 December. With no sitting parliament, the budget law was issued by the Amir Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, in a decree published in the Official Gazette on 21 October.
The Kuwaiti budget for fiscal year 2012-13 (which starts on 1 April) projects a 3.6% increase in revenue to KD13.932bn ($49.46bn) and a 9.3% hike in expenditure to a record KD21.240bn ($75.40bn), with a resulting deficit of KD10.791bn ($38.31bn) after allocation to the Reserve Fund for Future Generations (RFFG). The deficit in the latest budget is projected to rise by 47.1% over the previous year. The higher expenditure in the new budget comes on the back of an even larger increase of 19.2% in 2011-12 (MEES, 15 August 2011). (CONTINUED - 985 WORDS)
