Increase in Expats remittances
The travel expenditure of Kuwaitis in the first quarter of this year was about KD 1.131 billion, recording an increase of about 4.48 percent compared to the spending in the last quarter of last year, which was KD 913.1 million. It witnessed a slight decrease by about 0.44 percent compared to the level in the first quarter of 2022 amounting to about KD 1.136 billion, reports Al-Rai daily.
According to the balance of payments data for the State of Kuwait issued by the Central Bank of Kuwait, the total remittances of expatriate workers were about KD 1.22 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which was an increase of 4.48 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, which amounted to KD 1.167 billion. It recorded a decline of about 17.34 percent compared to its value in the first quarter of last year, which was KD 1.476 billion.
The current account of the State of Kuwait recorded a surplus of KD 4.183 billion in the first three months of this year, which was down by 10.47 percent compared to the surplus it achieved in the last quarter of last year, which reached KD 4.672 billion. The surplus witnessed an increase of about 7.73 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022, amounting to KD 3.883 billion.
As for the current and capital account balance (net lending + net borrowing), it amounted to KD 4.173 billion at the end of the first quarter of this year, down by 10.55 percent compared to the end of the last quarter of last year, which amounted to KD 4.665 billion. It witnessed an increase of about 2.66 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022, which amounted to KD 4.065 billion.
The total balance of payments achieved a surplus of about KD 603.2 million in the first quarter of 2023, which was an increase of 15.57 percent compared to the surplus level of KD 714.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase amounted to about 147.21 percent compared to the surplus of the balance of payments in the first quarter of the year, which amounted to about KD 244 million.
Source- Arab Times.
