Officials: Kuwait embarking on comprehensive financial reform

The State of Kuwait is embarking on a comprehensive financial reform to develop revenues for the state's financial sustainability, said two officials at the Ministry of Finance on Sunday. During the first general budget forum held by the Ministry of Finance, the two officials noted that the reform plan includes repricing rents for state-owned lands through inventorying the state's real estate assets and reviewing land rental prices. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, Aseel Al-Munaifi, said the ministry is leading several reforms and relies on the cooperation of government agencies to achieve them, including improving government procurement contracts to achieve actual savings and re-pricing public services to recover costs. She stated that the cumulative budget deficit for the next four years will vary according to the development of global oil prices, indicating that the expected deficit in the fiscal years for the period between (2025-2026) to (2028-2029) is estimated at about 26 billion Kuwaiti d inars (about USD 84.9 billion). Moreover, she stressed the importance of cooperation between government agencies to control the financial deficit, rationalize spending, diversify sources of income, and enhance financial performance. For his part, Assistant Undersecretary for the General Budget Affairs Sector in the Ministry of Finance, Saad Al-Alaty, said that the main goal of the forum is the cooperation of the parties to reform the state's general budget expenditures. Al-Alaty added that the preparation of the budget for the fiscal year (2025-2026) is carried out through four stages. He called on government agencies to adhere to the proper approach in implementing the Minister of Finance's circulars regarding the state's general budget and to raise inquiries and questions about the financial matters related to preparing the budget and how to address them and prepare the budget according to the specified ceilings and targets. Source: Kuwait News Agency