Kuwait's financial surplus in the 1999-2000 fiscal year which ended last month is estimated to have topped $3.8bn, a post-Gulf War record, a specialised economic report said yesterday.
Oil revenues are expected to exceed 5bn dinars ($16.4bn), three times more than projected and more than double the income of the 1998-1999 fiscal year, Al-Shall Economic Consultants said.
Another 450mn dinars ($1.5bn) came from non-oil sources, the report said.
Figures released by the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) show revenues in the first three quarters of 1999-2000 reached 3.762bn dinar ($12.3bn), of which oil income contributed 3.473bn dinars ($11.4bn).
Al-Shall's estimates of the fourth quarter income were based on an average oil price of $25.1 per barrel and a production quota of 1.98mn barrels per day (bpd).
It estimated total expenditure to have reached the projected 4.295bn dinars ($14.1bn), thus leaving a minimum surplus of 1.145bn dinars ($3.8bn).
This would be the largest surplus in Kuwait since Iraqi troops were driven out of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War. KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
