KUWAIT CITY, 5 October 2003 — OPEC member Kuwait is estimated to have earned $9 billion from oil sales in the first half of the current fiscal year, more than 90 percent of projected oil income for the whole year, a report said yesterday.
The independent Al-Shall Economic Consultants said the average price for Kuwaiti oil during the first six months of the fiscal year was $25.60 a barrel, more than 70 percent higher than the budgeted price.
Kuwait has calculated oil revenues on the basis of a daily production quota of 2.038 million barrels and a price of $15 a barrel.
Oil revenues were projected at 2.970 billion dinars ($9.9 billion) while actual earnings were estimated by Al-Shall at 2.690 billion dinars (about $9 billion).
Total revenues for the current year, which started on April 1 and ends on March 31, 2004, were estimated at 3.555 billion dinars ($11.85 billion). The budget also projected a $7.56 billion shortfall, while expenditures were estimated at 5.824 billion dinars ($19.41 billion). By law, 10 percent of revenues, in this case 355.49 million dinars ($1.2 billion), is deducted for the Kuwait Fund for Future Generations, a $60-billion investment managed by Kuwait Investment Authority.
The preliminary figures about better-than-expected revenues raise hopes that the emirate will wipe out the projected deficit and may boast a surplus as it did over the past few years.