The state’s financial management results of the final account for the fiscal year 2021/2022 showed that Kuwait registered an actual deficit of 2.991 billion dinars, a decrease of 72.2 percent compared to the deficit in the fiscal year 2020/2021, which amounted to 10.773 billion dinars.
According to an Arab daily, the Ministry of Finance final account was issued on Sunday after it was presented to the Council of Ministers, the country achieved oil revenues totaling 16.217 billion dinars in the fiscal year ending on 31 March 2022, recording a jump of 84.5 percent compared to oil revenues achieved in the fiscal year 2020/2021, which had amounted to 8.79 billion dinars.
During the past fiscal year, Kuwait was able to record the highest level of its non-oil revenues in seven years, as non-oil revenues in 2021/2022 amounted to about 2.396 billion dinars, an increase of 38.5 percent over its non-oil revenues in the previous fiscal year, which amounted to 1.73 billion dinars. This shows that the total revenues achieved by the country in the fiscal year ending on 31 March amounted to 18.613 billion dinars, up by 76.9 percent from the previous fiscal year’s level of 10.52 billion dinars, while oil revenues accounted for about 87.1 percent of the total revenues for 2021/2022.
On the other hand, the final account indicated that the total budget expenditures amounted to 21.604 billion dinars during the past fiscal year, an increase of 1.5 percent over the level of spending in 2020/2021, which amounted to 21.293 billion dinars, while expenditures recorded a saving of about 1.4 billion dinars compared to what was approved in the budget estimates for the fiscal year 2021/2022.
Combined, salaries and subsidies accounted for 16.44 billion dinars, which constituted about 76 percent of the total expenditures for the fiscal year 2021/2022, as what was spent on salaries and the like amounted to 12.626 billion dinars, an increase of 3.5 percent over salary expenditures in the previous fiscal year, which was It amounted to 12.194 billion dinars, while salaries alone accounted for 58.4 percent of total expenditures in 2021/2022.
Meanwhile, subsidies amounted to 3.814 billion dinars in the fiscal year ending on 31 March, an increase of 2 percent compared to their level in the previous fiscal year of 3.738 billion dinars, while subsidies constituted 17.65 percent of the total expenditures for 2021/2022.
Capital expenditures during 2021/2022 amounted to about 2.56 billion dinars, constituting about 12 percent of total expenditures, while recording an increase of about 16 percent from its level in the previous fiscal year, amounting to 2.207 billion dinars. The actual average price of a barrel of oil was $80.7 in the last fiscal year, while the daily production rate was 2.539 million barrels.
The Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Investment, Abdul Wahhab Al-Rasheed, was quoted saying that the rise in oil prices boosted state revenues, after the record decline in the last fiscal year, and also highlight the growth of non-oil revenues by 38.5 percent compared to the year’s final account of the previous financial year, reaching its highest level in seven years.
Al-Rasheed explained that the world and the region are currently experiencing rapid changes that carry various economic challenges and opportunities, pointing out that Kuwait enjoys a solid financial position, large reserves, and monetary and financial stability, as all these factors enable the country not only to overcome the existing interim challenges with distinction, but also to seize opportunities. He said that first of these is developing the public finances of the state and stimulating the growth and diversification of the economy. He also stressed that the government is fully prepared to discuss the final account with the legislative authority, and to move forward in implementing more realistic solutions to develop public finances.
The official expressed appreciation to the Council of Ministers for its support of the Ministry of Finance, and to the MOF workers, for complying with the law and the requirements of the regulatory agencies in the past months.