KUWAIT: Kuwait’s non-oil revenue rose sharply in the 2024-25 fiscal year which ended in March, as a chronic budget deficit shrank by a healthy 32 percent despite a drop in oil revenues, a report released by the government said. The final financial statements for the last fiscal year also showed that both public spending and public revenues dropped.
The statements showed the budget deficit dropped 32 percent to KD 1.05 billion from KD 1.56 billion posted in the previous 2023-2024 fiscal year. The drop in the deficit is attributed to a 27.5 percent rise in non-oil revenues to KD 2.7 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year from KD 2.1 billion in the previous year, the report said.
Taxes and charges rose 10 percent to KD 606 million from KD 550 million in the previous year, while revenue from goods and services increased 36.5 percent to KD 1.9 billion from KD 1.4 billion. The other factor contributing to a lower budget deficit was an 8.3 percent cut in public spending to KD 23.1 billion in 2024-25 from KD 25.2 billion in the previous year, the report said. This was the result of government efforts in rationalizing spending and halting unnecessary squandering of public funds, the report said.
Spending on goods and services dived from KD 4.6 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year to just KD 3.3 billion the past year, it said, while spending on wages and benefits dropped slightly. Public revenues in 2024-25 were KD 22.05 billion, down 6.7 percent on the previous year’s KD 23.6 billion, mainly because oil income, the main source for Kuwaiti revenues, dropped 10.8 percent to KD 19.3 billion from KD 21.5 billion as a result of lower oil prices.
