The size of delayed payments to government institutions due to lack of financial liquidity until the end of last October was about KD 1.9 billion and the institutions have requested the Kuwait Investment Authority to borrow from the General Reserve Fund about KD 1.4 billion to cover special expenses during November, including to cover part of expenses that could not be met during October.
Well-informed financial sources told Al-Anba the deferred payments to finance government agencies come within the framework of the Ministry of Finance’s prudent management of the liquidity file, according to strategies characterized by the optimal use of available financial resources, and it is expected at the same time to achieve a positive impact on liquidity rates, leading to a reduction in the budget deficit with the recent improvement in oil prices which crossed the 80 dollars per barrel barrier.
The sources indicated that, last month, the Kuwait Investment Authority provided an estimated KD 350 million liquidity to finance the claims of government agencies, in addition to KD 850 million for salaries, indicating at the same time that payments for more than 17 different government agencies are deferred.
The social insurance has largest share of 28% of the total claims, worth KD 533 million of which KD 94 million are special obligations for the month of October, in addition to KD 439 million earlier obligations.
The Ministry of Electricity and Water comes in second place with 16% of the total deferred payments, amounting to KD 308 million This money is related to fuel to operating the power stations, followed by the Public Authortity for Housing Welfare with 11% or KD 215 million in addition to about KD 128 million to some affiliated authorities, and in the fifth place comes the Ministry of Education with about KD 105 million
