11 seconds ago 2009-12-10T06:35:04-08:00
KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – OPEC member Kuwait is forecast to post a budget surplus of up to 22.3 billion dollars this fiscal year on the back of better than expected oil prices, a local bank said on Tuesday.
"We estimate that the government will run a budget surplus of between 16.4 billion dollars and 22.3 billion dollars" in the 2009/2010 fiscal year ending next March 31, National Bank of Kuwait said in a report.
The expected surplus was based on estimates that the price of Kuwaiti oil will range from between 65 dollars a barrel and 68 dollars over the entire fiscal year.
Kuwait, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' fourth-largest producer, projected a 14-billion dollar deficit in its budget while calculating oil income at a highly conservative price of 35 dollars a barrel.
Oil income contributes around 94 percent of total public revenues.
Official figures released by the finance ministry on Monday showed that the emirate has posted a preliminary surplus of 17.5 billion dollars in the first half of the year.
Kuwait has posted a surplus in each of the past 10 fiscal years because of high oil prices.
The emirate has been investing its savings abroad through the Kuwait Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund whose assets are estimated at around 230 billion dollars.
Kuwait says it sits on 10 percent of global crude reserves and pumps around 2.2 million barrels per day.
