(Bloomberg) -- Kuwait’s National Assembly passed the state budget for the fiscal year that started April 1, forecasting the OPEC member’s smallest deficit in nine years due to higher oil prices.

After amendments to the budget, estimated spending was raised to 23.53 billion dinars ($76 billion) in the 2022/23 fiscal year, while revenue are projected at 23.40 billion dinars. Oil income, which accounts for more than 90% of state revenue, is based on $80 a barrel.

Cash for civil servants’ unused holidays, rewards for front-line staff during the pandemic, and allocations for new residential areas were added to the projected outlays. More than 80% of working Kuwaitis are employed in the public sector, while wages and subsidies account for about 70% of the budget.

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The country will finance the budget gap through the General Reserve Fund, or treasury, managed by the Kuwait Investment Authority, Finance Minister Abdulwahab Al-Rasheed told parliament. 

Years of political tensions in Kuwait have thwarted fiscal reforms and stymied efforts to diversify the oil-reliant economy and promote foreign investment. Kuwait won’t be transferring 10% of total revenue to the Future Generations Fund, or its sovereign wealth fund, under a 2020 law barring such transfers in years of deficit. The FGF is also managed by the the Kuwait Investment Authority.

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