Remittances of expats in Kuwait decline in 2017: AlShall

Mubasher: The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) published preliminary figures about Kuwait’s balance of payments for the year 2017, registering a surplus of about KWD 2.152 billion ($7.1 billion) in its current account versus a deficit, the first since 1993, in the amount of about KWD 1.528 billion in 2016, according to a recent report by AlShall Economic Consultants.

“Commodity balance surplus rose to about KWD 7.769 billion from about KWD 5.898 billion, a rise by about KWD 1.871 billion, i.e. 31.7%,” AlShall said.

Oil exports increased to KWD 14.951 billion in 2017, approximately 89.4% of commodity exports in 2017 up from about KWD 12.527 billion, representing approximately 89.1% of total commodity exports in the year 2016, rising nearly 19.4%.

“Workers' remittances abroad in 2017, which scored about KWD 4.142 billion, equivalent to about $13.7 billion, compared to KWD 4.566 billion in 2016,” AlShall noted.

Kuwait’s both public and private sectors seen to have achieved surplus in foreign investments by about KWD 6.522 billion compared with about KWD 1.780 billion deficit in 2016.