In its 19 March Economic Update, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) projects a surplus of KD9.3bn ($22.0bn) for Kuwait’s 2014-15 draft budget before allocation of the mandatory 25% of budget revenue to the Reserve Fund for Future Generations (RFFG). Also for the current fiscal year 2013-14, ending on 31 March, the bank is projecting a higher surplus of KD11.4bn ($40.5bn) before the transfer to the RFFG.
NBK’s surplus figure for the current year is however lower than the MEES estimate of KD19.1bn ($67.8bn) before transfer to the RFFG, based on preliminary figures of actual revenue and expenditure for the first 10 months of 2013-14, recently published by Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance (MEES, 14 March). NBK appears to have factored in expectations that the Kuwaiti government will load large chunks of expenditure on to the last two months of the fiscal year. (CONTINUED - 362 WORDS)
