The Kuwait parliament has approved the budget for fiscal year 2017-18 starting on 1 April, with oil revenue set to remain relatively flat at KD11.7bn ($38.6bn). The budget projects that Kuwait will run its fourth consecutive deficit, with the shortfall set to rise to $26.1bn for the current year ending March 2018.
Parliament passed the budget on 8 June with seemingly little or no amendments to the key numbers from the draft proposed by the cabinet on 30 January, although full details of the new budget have yet to be published in the budget law in the Official Gazette. In January the cabinet indicated that crude oil output will remain at 2.8mn b/d in the new budget, although this level was not confirmed in the approved budget (MEES, 3 February). (CONTINUED - 1094 WORDS)
