The surplus accounted for 22 percent of the OPEC member’s gross domestic product, according to Reuters calculations. It stood at 4.6 billion dinars in the same period a year ago and at 6.8 billion in April-July. 

Revenue of the world’s sixth-largest oil exporter was 11.9 billion dinars in April-August, while spending came at 3.7 billion, below a projected 8.1 billion, the data showed.  

Oil revenue reached 11.3 billion dinars in April-August, accounting for 95 percent of the total. The 2011-12 budget is based on an oil price of $60 per barrel.  

Brent crude prices have been floating between $98 and $127 per barrel since the fiscal year started in April.  

On Thursday, prices rose around $1 per barrel with US futures touching $80.6 per barrel on expectations Europe would support its banks and as data suggested global growth may be slightly stronger than anticipated.

Since 2004, Kuwait’s budget spending has tripled to a record 19.4 billion dinars planned for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which started in April, with expenditure on wages rising almost as fast.

Revenue was set at 13.4 billion dinars in the 2011-12 budget, approved by parliament in June, bringing the projected deficit to 5.99 billion, or 16.2 percent of gross domestic product, according to Reuters calculations.  

However, the 2011-12 revenue estimate is very conservative given this year’s surge in the price of oil.   

In August, Kuwait’s ruler said the misuse of budget surplus, including unproductive spending, has led to structural imbalances in the Gulf Arab economy.

Kuwait has no plans to boost budget spending in the next fiscal year, nor does it expect budget cuts in coming months, its finance minister said last month.

A Reuters poll in September forecast Kuwait’s economy would grow 4.7 percent in 2011 and generate a fiscal surplus of 21.4 percent of GDP in 2011-12.