Kuwait's total budgeted revenue for 2022/23 is expected to more than double and reach an 8-year high of KD23.4 billion to ($75.5 billion) on the back of increased oil revenues.

This is 114.1% increase over KD10.9 billion estimated for the fiscal year 2021/2022.

The planned spending is expected to increase this year and reach the highest level on record of KD23.5 billion, mainly due to increase in salaries and subsidies.

The National Assembly of Kuwait has approved the budget which forecasts a small deficit for the eighth consecutive year.

The revenues are calculated with a budgeted crude oil price of $80/barrel, while the budget for the previous year was calculated on $45/barrel, said a Kamco Invest report.

This could mean that the actual revenues could be significantly higher as oil prices continues to remain elevated this year, it said.

Brent crude averaged at $105.5 per barrel since the start of the year, while Kuwait crude oil and Opec crude basket averaged at $105.1 per barrel and $103.0 per barrel, respectively, according to EIA and Bloomberg.

The budget assumes no transfers to the Future Generation Fund (FGF) for the current year and for 2022/2023 after the law introduced last year which said that there would be no transfers to the FGF in years of deficits.

In terms of revenues, crude oil will continue to account for the bulk of the budgeted revenues in the fiscal year 2022/2023, said the Kamco Invest report.

The share of oil revenues to total revenues is expected to increase significantly from 83.5% estimated for fiscal year 2021/2022 to 91% budgeted for the fiscal year 2022/2023, according to data from Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance. This would imply non-oil revenue share of 9% for the fiscal year 2022/23 compared to 16.5% estimated for the previous fiscal year.

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