According to the latest economic brief published by National Bank of Kuwait, even though the budget allocation for development and maintenance projects was raised by 25 percent for this fiscal year, there was a 9.4 percent drop in this spending category, in the first six-month period of the fiscal year 2001/2002. The prorated budget allocation for the period was KD 292 million, of which only 22 percent (KD 65 million) was spent. The delayed approval of the FY01/02 budget may lie behind the drop. The budget was passed in late June 2001, three months into FY01/02.
Typically, if a fiscal year begins before a budget is approved, the government operates within the parameters of the previous year’s budget, while the implementation of new projects is put on hold until their appropriations are approved. This is unlikely to be the sole factor behind the slippage in implementing planned projects. However, the government has not offered a reasonable explanation to date. Separately, some items in this chapter, such as land purchases for which KD 83 million has been budgeted, are not entered in the books until the end of the fiscal year. Consequently, the expected growth in this chapter may not appear until later in the fiscal year. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
