KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait posted a preliminary budget surplus of $25.1 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year despite a sharp rise in spending thanks to high oil prices, official figures showed Thursday. Actual spending up until the end of December reached $28.9 billion, less than half of the projected $58.3 billion for the year, according to figures posted on the finance ministry website. Still, spending this fiscal year was a massive 42.3 percent higher than that for the same period last year of $20.3 billion, the figures showed. Kuwait's fiscal year starts on April 1 and ends on March 31. The emirate has embarked on implementing a four-year development plan, envisaging spending of $104 billion on a large number of mega projects which have been stalled because of political disputes. Revenues in the nine months hit $54 billion dollars, up 55.6 percent on budget figure for the whole year, and 17 percent higher than the actual income of $46.1 billion earned in the first nine months last fiscal year. OPEC's fifth largest producer has projected a deficit of $23.5 billion because it calculated oil income at a conservative price of $43 a barrel, while actual oil price has been above $80 dollars for most of the fiscal year. Income from oil reached $50.4 billion, 63.8 percent higher than the budget projection and up 15.9 percent on oil revenues in the same period last fiscal year of $43.5 billion. The Gulf emirate is headed for another healthy budget surplus despite projecting a deficit, according to local economic reports. It has projected a shortfall in each of the past 11 fiscal years but ended up in the black, accumulating surpluses of more than $140 billion. Under Kuwaiti law, 10 percent of revenues are deducted every year in favor of the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, whose assets are estimated at around $300 billion. Returns on the fund are not included in the budget. Kuwait claims it holds 10 percent of global crude reserves and is pumping about 2.3 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, the level of economic freedom in Kuwait has declined year-on-year, with the country currently ranking eighth out of 17 Middle East nations and 61st globally out of 183 countries, according to the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual report issued by the US-based think tank, the Heritage Foundation. According to the 2011 report, Kuwait's ‘economic freedom score' is 64.9, 2.8 points lower than last year, with the country showing declines in five of the ten economic freedoms on which the index bases its assessment. The report indicates a sharp fall in labor-related freedoms in Kuwait, although the country's overall score is well above the global and regional averages. Kuwait has been modernizing its economy for several years and performs relatively well in many of the 10 economic freedoms,” the report continues.
