A report issued by the Central Bank of Kuwait showed that foreign reserve assets increased last June by 4.8 percent on an annual basis, reaching nearly 14.4 billion dinars (about 47 billion dollars) in June, compared to 44.9 billion dollars a year ago.
On a monthly basis, reserves fell 4.3 percent in June from 15.045 billion dinars ($49.16 billion) in the previous May.
The reserves included about $41.6 billion in deposits and currencies, in addition to about $4.3 billion in Kuwait's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund. It also included a balance of $765.9 million with the International Monetary Fund and gold estimated at about 79 tons, calculated at the book value since its purchase, at about $104 million.
The foreign reserve does not include the foreign assets of the General Investment Authority (the sovereign fund), which exceed about $708.4 billion, according to the latest data of the Sovereign Wealth Funds Institute. Kuwait expects the fiscal deficit to decrease in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which began in early April, by 74.2 percent on an annual basis, to reach $10.3 billion.
Source (Al-Arab Newspaper of London, Edited)
