Kuwait's parliament on Thursday (June 8th) passed the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, projecting a deficit for the third year in a row due to a slump in oil prices, AFP reported.
The deficit is projected to be $21.6 billion, with revenues estimated at $43.6 billion and expenditure at $65.2 billion.
Oil income, calculated at $45 a barrel, is projected at $38.4 billion, up 36% from the estimated last year's budget.
Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh told parliament that provisional figures showed an actual shortfall of $21.3 billion in the 2016-17 fiscal year, which runs from April 1st to March 31st in Kuwait.
The OPEC member posted healthy surpluses for 16 fiscal years in a row before posting a deficit in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
Saleh said Kuwait had faced "extremely difficult challenges" in the past three years in particular, as crude prices plummeted due to a production glut.
