The official figures for the budgets of the Gulf countries in 2022 recorded a large surplus, amid expectations that this will continue during the current year 2023 as oil and gas prices continue to rise. The realization of this surplus is due to the economic repercussions of the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, foremost of which is the crisis of energy supply disruptions.
Saudi Arabia recorded a budget surplus for 2022 of 102 billion riyals (about $ 27 billion), and Qatar's budget for 2022 achieved an actual surplus of 89 billion riyals ($ 24.34 billion), a huge increase from 2021, in which the ministry's data recorded a surplus of only $ 1.59 billion.
The UAE's federal budget achieved a primary surplus during the fourth quarter of 2022 of AED 22.8 billion ($ 6.2 billion), amid a noticeable improvement in revenues. While the Sultanate of Oman achieved a surplus of about 1.146 billion riyals (about $ 3 billion) in the 2022 budget.
Kuwait's budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023, which ended in March, is expected to have achieved a surplus of 6.262 billion dinars (about $20.5 billion). Bahrain's budget deficit for last year also fell by 85 percent, according to preliminary estimates announced by the Bahraini Ministry of Finance in February.
Source (Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed, Edited)
