Kuwait City: Kuwait’s current account surplus shrank by nearly 8 per cent to 20.3 billion dinars ($72.2 billion) in 2013 compared with the previous year, preliminary central bank data showed on Thursday, in line with market expectations.
The 2013 surplus was equivalent to 39.6 per cent of 2012 gross domestic product, down from 43.0 per cent, according to Reuters calculations based on the latest official data. Kuwait has not yet released 2013 GDP data. Analysts polled by Reuters in January estimated Kuwait’s 2013 current account surplus was 40.0 per cent of GDP, and forecast it would fall further to 37.8 per cent in 2014.
