$20.5 billion expected deficit in Kuwait's next budget

The Kuwaiti Council of Ministers approved today, Sunday, a draft decrees-laws for the 2025-2026 budget with an expected deficit of about 6.306 billion dinars ($20.45 billion).

The Council of Ministers said in a statement published by its General Secretariat on its website that the 2025-2026 budget includes expected revenues of 8.231 billion dinars and expenditures of 24.538 billion dinars.

The budget requires the approval of the country's Emir, Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to be approved.

The Council of Ministers said in its statement that it decided to approve the draft decrees related to the budget in preparation for submitting them to the Emir.

Kuwait's budget, which begins on April 1 and ends on March 31, for the fiscal year 2023-2024 that ended last March, recorded a deficit of 6.8 billion dinars ($22.2 billion), according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

A post by the ministry on its account on the (X) platform at the time indicated that the deficit is expected to decline in the fiscal year 2024-2025 by about 17.3% to record 5.6 billion dinars ($18.4 billion).

The budget requires the approval of the country's Emir, Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to be approved.