KUWAIT CITY, Sept 4 (AFP) - Oil-rich Kuwait has earned some 11.5 billion dollars in oil income in the first five months of the current fiscal year, exceeding revenue estimates for the whole year, a report said Saturday.
Revenues in the state budget for fiscal year 2004/2005, which projects a deficit of 10.1 billion dollars, are estimated at 11.25 billion dollars. Expenditures are projected at 21.35 billion dollars.
Oil revenues, calculated at a conservative price of 15 dollars a barrel, are estimated at 9.3 billion dollars and non-oil revenues at 1.95 billion dollars in the fiscal year, which runs from April 1 to March 31, 2005.
Al-Shall Economic Consultants, an independent think-tank, said the average price for Kuwaiti crude in the months between March and August was 34 dollars a barrel, 19 dollars over the budget price.
The average price of Kuwaiti oil in August rose to 37.7 dollars a barrel, 3.9 dollars over July's price and about seven dollars over April's average, it said.
Al-Shall estimated that the emirate's oil revenues would touch 28 billion dollars during the year if the average oil price remains unchanged, and that total public revenues would exceed 30 billion dollars.
Kuwait will post a surplus in excess of nine billion dollars in the current fiscal year provided all the projected expenditures are spent, it said.
But judging by previous years, Kuwait is expected to spend between 10 percent and 15 percent less, thus the surplus is expected to be much higher.
Kuwait's OPEC production quota was raised to 2.087 million barrels per day (bpd) on August 1, but the emirate has been producing at full capacity of 2.4 million bpd for a long time.
Last year, Kuwait posted revenues of 23.1 billion dollars, its largest in more than 25 years, and boasted a surplus of 7.4 billion dollars, its fifth straight year in the black, according to preliminary figures.
Kuwait has made a total net surplus of 14.1 billion dollars in the past five fiscal years, in addition to 9.55 billion dollars deposited in the Kuwait Fund for Future Generations, which has assets worth some 80 billion dollars.
The Fund is managed by the state-run Kuwait Investment Authority. Its holdings are mostly in Europe and the United States in real estate, stocks and other long-term investments.
Its profits do not figure in the budget.