KUWAIT, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Kuwaiti Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh said on Tuesday that he expected the price of oil for the 2016/17 budget to be set at around $25 a barrel.
Some 90 percent of the OPEC country's state revenues come from oil, prompting the Gulf Arab state's emir to call for measures to cut state expenditures.
Kuwaiti oil prices dropped to around $19.50 a barrel on Jan. 21, but have since rebounded and stood around $22.60 on Monday.
Asked if a $25 a barrel would be the price for oil in the 2016-17 budget, Saleh told journalists: "Around this (figure)."
Speaking on the sidelines of an oil conference in Kuwait, Saleh also said that parliament would discuss studies prepared by the government on how to "ration spending" at a meeting on Feb. 9, but gave no further details.
Kuwait's parliament last July approved a state budget for the current fiscal year, which runs to end-March 2016, envisaging a deficit of 8.18 billion dinars ($27.0 billion) - nearly half of total spending - because of low oil prices.
The budget for the year that began on April 1, 2015, featured spending of 19.17 billion dinars and revenues of 12.2 billion dinars, assuming an average oil price of $45 a barrel during the year.
(Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Tom Heneghan) ((Sami.Aboudi@thomsonreuters.com; +97143918301;))
Keywords: KUWAIT BUDGET/OIL
Some 90 percent of the OPEC country's state revenues come from oil, prompting the Gulf Arab state's emir to call for measures to cut state expenditures.
Kuwaiti oil prices dropped to around $19.50 a barrel on Jan. 21, but have since rebounded and stood around $22.60 on Monday.
Asked if a $25 a barrel would be the price for oil in the 2016-17 budget, Saleh told journalists: "Around this (figure)."
Speaking on the sidelines of an oil conference in Kuwait, Saleh also said that parliament would discuss studies prepared by the government on how to "ration spending" at a meeting on Feb. 9, but gave no further details.
Kuwait's parliament last July approved a state budget for the current fiscal year, which runs to end-March 2016, envisaging a deficit of 8.18 billion dinars ($27.0 billion) - nearly half of total spending - because of low oil prices.
The budget for the year that began on April 1, 2015, featured spending of 19.17 billion dinars and revenues of 12.2 billion dinars, assuming an average oil price of $45 a barrel during the year.
(Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Tom Heneghan) ((Sami.Aboudi@thomsonreuters.com; +97143918301;))
Keywords: KUWAIT BUDGET/OIL
