Mubasher: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday announced that Kuwait's consolidated fiscal balance is likely to turn from a surplus of 5.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 to a deficit of a similar amount by 2025.   

Accordingly, the Kuwaiti government’s average annual financing needs will rise by KWD 55 billion ($180 billion) over the next six years, after mandatory transfers to the Future Generations Fund (FGF) and excluding investment income. 

 “Under the current arrangement with respect to the FGF and without recourse to other financing sources, [General Reserve Fund’s (GRF)] readily available assets would be exhausted in less than two years. Total [Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA)] assets however would continue to increase,” the IMF added.

It is worthy to note that during the nine-month period ended 31 December 2019, the Gulf country recorded a budget deficit worth KWD 2.276 billion ($7.515 billion) after transferring KWD 1.268 billion ($4.186 billion) to the future generations’ reserve.