KUWAIT: Kuwait's final statement of fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 showed deficit shrinking by 5.9 billion Kuwaiti Dinars (KD) ($19.5 billion), or 60.8 percent than projected deficit reduction of KD 9.7 billion ($32 billion), a Finance Ministry official said.

Abdulghaffar Al-Awadhi, Assistant Undersecretary of Accounting, elaborated Tuesday on the budget and said actual revenues of ministries and government departments amounted to KD 13.09 billion ($43.3 billion), an increase of 127.9 percent than projected. He added that projected revenues were KD 10.23 billion ($33.8 billion) for FY 2016-17.

Al-Awadhi said oil proceeds stood at KD 11.6 billion ($38.3 billion), an increase of 135.5 percent than projected income that was estimated at KD 8.6 billion ($28.4 billion). Non-oil revenues for FY 2016-17 registered around KD 1.4 billion ($4.6 billion), 12.6 percent less than projections.

Al-Awadhi said total expenditures of ministries and government departments reached KD 17.7 billion ($58.5 billion), which accounted for 93.7 percent of budgetary spending estimates. He said 10 percent of revenues, or KD 1.3 billion ($4.2 billion), were transferred to the Future Generation Account.

Consumer Price Index

In other news, Consumer Price Index (CPI) data shown in Kuwait's Central Statistical Bureau's (CSB) monthly report, is now based on the year 2013, instead of 2007, said an official yesterday. In a press conference, CSB's Assistant Undersecretary for the Statistics Department Muna Al-Daas noted that the task to update the information topped the bureau's to-do-list for the year. On the revised base year of 2013, now found in CPI reports across the Gulf, she said it was in line with international standards and the data has been revised, checked and tabulated by a national workforce.

The official added that CSB issues around 43 special reports on yearly, quarterly and monthly bases, in addition to seven national surveys that have thus far been conducted, focusing on the job market as well as information on development and the oil sector. The various indexes summarize the prices of about 1,400 goods and services, taken from 470 reputable sources from within the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.

Meanwhile, Huda Al-Sultan, another CSB official, revealed that Kuwait has regularly updated its CPI base year, through enlisting the aid of international specialists who have imparted their knowledge to local experts. According to the report, the CPI in June of this year increased by 0.09 percent, as compared to May of last year, while the annual CPI had risen by 1.35 percent. The CPI examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care. - KUNA