Kuwait’s food subsidy bill drops 7.7 pc as food support increases in early 2025

Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported a decline in food subsidy expenditure during the first 11 months of 2025 — about 309.43 million dinars, down from 335.19 million dinars over the same period in 2024. The reduction of 25.75 million dinars represents a 7.7 percent decrease in government support.

Despite the overall drop, construction materials continued to claim the largest share of total support, accounting for 51.13 percent or 158.22 million dinars of the budget. However, this category also saw a significant annual decline of 17.3 percent from 191.43 million dinars in 2024.

The support for basic food commodities grew to 135.57 million dinars, marking a 4.6 percent increase compared to 129.566 million dinars in 2024. The share of food in the total support program rose to 43.81 percent, up from 38.65 percent the previous year. Spending on milk and baby food rose by 10.2 percent to 15.63 million dinars, representing approximately 5 percent of total subsidies, reports Al-Rai daily.

The Supply Department recorded 8,170 requests for construction materials during the period, with November seeing the highest number of transactions at 791 and June the lowest at 462.

New requests for disbursement letters totaled 6,180, along with 419 renewals, 75 exchanges of support materials, 365 certificates of interest, and 1,126 certificates of non-receipt.

Ration cards increased to 274,190 by the end of November, up from 268,620 in the same period in 2024, a 2.07 percent rise. The number of beneficiaries reached approximately 2.33 million people, a growth of 77,205 individuals or 3.4 percent compared to 2.25 million in 2024.

Support program transactions, including additions, updates, deletions, and new issuances, totaled 175,720, with October recording the highest monthly activity. Individual transactions included 6,400 new ration cards, 5,420 renewals, and 425 deletions. In addition, 122,625 individuals were added to the support program, while 36,561 were removed, alongside 4,273 data update operations.

The Ministry’s data highlight both structural and demographic shifts in Kuwait’s subsidy system, reflecting an increasing focus on essential food support, while maintaining regulated support for construction materials. The figures also underline the growing number of beneficiaries accessing government aid and the continuous need for efficient administrative management of ration card issuance and updates.

The report provides insight into Kuwait’s ongoing efforts to balance social welfare with fiscal responsibility, as authorities work to ensure subsidies remain targeted and effective for the expanding population.