The Al-Shall Center for Economic Consultations stated that with the end of April 2023, the first month of the current fiscal year 2023/2024 ended, as the average price of a barrel of Kuwaiti oil in April reached about $85.5, which is higher by about $15.5 per barrel, or 22.1 percent than the new estimated hypothetical price in the current budget of $70 per barrel.
The report indicated that Kuwait is supposed to have achieved 1.798 billion dinars in oil revenues in April assuming the continuation of the production levels and prices as they are — an assumption that may not be achieved, reports Al-Rai daily.
The report indicated that with the addition of about 2.284 billion dinars in non-oil revenues, the total budget revenues for the current fiscal year will reach 23.866 billion, indicating that by comparing this figure with the expenditure appropriations amounting to 26.279 billion, it is likely that the general budget for the current fiscal year 2023/2024 will record a deficit of 2.413 billion. dinars, but the dominant factor remains the only one is oil revenues.
On the other hand the report analyzed the performance of Boursa Kuwait last April, indicating that it was mixed compared to its performance in March, as the average daily trading value decreased with a positive performance of all price indices.
The report pointed to a decrease in the stock market’s absolute liquidity in April compared to the liquidity of March, as it amounted to 643.7 million dinars, down from the level of 889.3 million dinars, or by -27.6 percent, indicating that the average daily trading value in April amounted to 35.8 million, down by -11.5 percent from the average level. That value for the month of March amounted to 40.4 million dinars.
The report stated that the volume of stock exchange liquidity in the first four months of this year (i.e. in 79 working days) amounted to 3.285 billion dinars, with an average daily trading value for the period amounting to 41.6 million, down by -38.7 percent compared to the average daily trading value for the same period of 2022 of 67.8 million by about -31.1 percent when compared to the level of that rate for the full year 2022 of 60.3 million dinars.
The report stated that liquidity trends since the beginning of the year still indicate that half of the listed companies obtained only 0.7 percent of that liquidity, including 50 companies that received only 0.1 percent, and 3 companies without any trading, explaining that for companies Small and liquid, 12 companies with a market capitalization of 5.3 percent of the total value of the listed companies gained 13.5 percent of the Boursa liquidity, which means that liquidity activity is still depriving about half of the listed companies of it, and on the contrary it tends to favor companies with a small market value.