Press Releases

The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) published today (8-5-2018) the preliminary data of the Balance of Payments (BOP) of the State of Kuwait for 2017 and the revised data of 2016.

The aforesaid data show that the Current Account (summing up receipts and payments between domestic economy and other economies in terms of goods, services and income) recorded a surplus of KD 2,152 million against a deficit of KD 1,528 million during the previous year. The surplus in the current account is due to the rise in the surpluses of balance on goods and the primary income on one hand, and the decrease in the secondary income deficit on the other. The surplus in the current account mainly reflects a surge in the value of oil exports at a greater rate than that of value of merchandise imports resulting in increasing surplus of the balance on goods (merchandise exports minus merchandise imports) to KD 7,769 million during 2017 as compared to KD 5,898 million during the previous year. Furthermore, deficit in the Services Account (net value of services transactions between residents and non residents, the most important of which are transportation, travel, communications and construction) increased by KD 877 million or 14.5% to KD 6,925 million during 2017, compared to a deficit of KD 6,049 million during the previous year.

As for the developments in the Financial Account (that records transactions involving transfers of financial assets and liabilities between residents and non-residents) of the State of Kuwait’s BOP during 2017, preliminary statistics indicate a net capital outflows of KD 6,522 million against a net capital inflows of KD 1,780 million during 2016.

As a result of the developments in the main BOP accounts, the overall position of Kuwait’s BOP recorded a surplus of KD 569 million during 2017 against a surplus of KD 960 million during the previous year.

From a broader perspective, the overall position of the State of Kuwait’s BOP that takes into consideration the change in the net value of external assets of some institutions listed under “General Government” item, the overall position of BOP, in a broad definition, indicates a surplus estimated at KD 4,252 million during 2017 against a deficit of KD 2,531 million during the previous year.