Mubasher: Kuwait’s current account surplus increased to around KWD 2 billion during the first quarter of 2019, compared to KWD 1.8 billion a quarter earlier, according to a report released on Wednesday by the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).

The Kuwaiti current account was boosted by the growth of income balance due to high returns on overseas investments, along with the increase in direct and other investment and in total investment, the report added.

The GCC county’s trade balance declined by 13% quarter-on-quarter to KWD 2.7 billion in Q1-19, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2017, the NBK’s data showed.                                                                                                             

“Movements in the trade balance are largely a function of movements in the oil price, given that oil exports account for almost 91% of total exports. The downward movement in oil export revenues [in Q1-19] roughly tracked the downward trajectory in oil prices.”

As per the report, the decline in Kuwait’s oil exports was higher than the drop in oil prices, which resulted by the OPEC+ output cut agreement, while imports levelled down by 2.4% quarter-on-quarter to KWD 2.2 billion.

“The fact that imports declined in the first quarter of the year when they may have been expected to rise given that economic growth looked to have picked up could perhaps be explained by the appreciation of the Kuwaiti Dinar against the currencies of Kuwait’s main trading partners.”