Kuwait has posted a preliminary budget surplus of 7.2 billion dinars (Dh91.66bn) for the first nine months of its fiscal year, in place of a projected deficit, due to higher than expected oil revenue.
The finance ministry said on its website that state revenue for the nine months from April to December of last year totalled 12.9bn dinars, or 59 per cent more than the government had forecast for the entire fiscal year ending on March 31.
Government spending of 5.7bn dinars during the period was 47 per cent of the amount projected for the year.
The Gulf state had projected a budget deficit this year of 4.8bn dinars, based on an average crude price of US$35 per barrel. Oil prices, however, rallied strongly in the past 12 months and had recovered to about $80 per barrel in late December from a $32 low the previous February. As a result, Kuwait's 12.2bn dinars of oil income during the nine-month fiscal period was nearly 76 per cent above the full-year budget projection.
Oil revenue constituted more than 94 per cent of the emirate's total income for the nine-month period. Non-oil revenue came to 724 million dinars.
In the next fiscal year starting April 1, Kuwait plans to spend about 16bn dinars and will base its new budget on an average crude price of $43 per barrel, the finance minister Mustafa al Shimali said yesterday.
Crude, however, touched a two-week high above $78 yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, rising on geopolitical concerns. Iran announced it had launched a satellite-carrier rocket, heightening the fears of western powers that Tehran might be covertly pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.
Kuwait has projected budget shortfalls in the past 10 fiscal years, but ended up with large surpluses in all of them. The emirate finished its last fiscal year with a 2.8bn dinar surplus, despite making a large one-off payment to its state pension fund.
@Email:tcarlisle@thenational.ae
Suggested picnic spots
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
Co-founders: Yousef Wadi, Kanaan Manasrah and Shadi Shalabi
Based: Jordan
Sector: Technology
Initial investment: Close to $100,000
Investors: Propeller, 500 Startups, Wamda Capital, Agrimatico, Techstars and some angel investors
More from Neighbourhood Watch
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
