Companies listed on Kuwait's bourse won public projects worth around 350 million Kuwaiti dinars ($1.15 billion) in the first quarter of 2020 and more than a third of them were in the construction sector, the local press reported on Monday.

The total value of the 28 projects was nearly 2.9 percent higher than the 340 million dinars ($1.12 billion) value of the 17 projects awarded in the first quarter of 2019, the Arabic language daily Alanba said, citing official data.

It showed the construction sector accounted for nearly 36 percent of those contracts with a total value of nearly 127 million dinars ($419 million).

The state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) emerged as the main client, with the value of its contracts standing at 118.3 million dinars ($390 million). It was followed by the Public Works Ministry, with a total contract value of 50.6 million dinars ($167 million). National Petroleum Services Co (NAPESCO) grabbed the largest contract in the first quarter from KOC with a value of 110 million dinars ($363 million).

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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