The Kuwaiti government has approved the emirate’s draft budget for the 2020-21 financial year (from April 2020). The new budget projects a dramatic $30.3bn deficit, the seventh consecutive year in the red.
The projected budget deficit would be the largest in Kuwait’s history, although it is not that much more than the current year’s budgeted deficit of $27.3bn. Conservative oil price assumptions of $55/B for both years mean that the final result is likely to be considerably smaller deficits. Preliminary numbers for the first eight months of this year point towards a deficit closer to $8bn. Kuwaiti monthly figures rarely match up with full year data, but the conservative oil price assumption should mean the eventual deficit is closer to the previous year’s $11bn. (CONTINUED - 981 WORDS)
