Kuwait City, September 30 :

OPEC member Kuwait is on course for another year of record income after a sharp rise in revenue in the first five months of the current fiscal year, a report stated today.

Quoting official finance ministry figures, Al-Shall Economic Consultants said that by the end of August, the fifth month of the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Kuwait had earned $24.2 billion because of high oil prices. This figure is 31 per cent up on the $18.4 billion earned in the same period during the last fiscal year and as much as 82 per cent of revenue projected for the entire fiscal year which ends on March 31.

Spending during the same period was about eight billion dollars, up on $6.1 billion in the first five months of last year. In the 2005-2006 fiscal year, the Gulf state posted a budget surplus of $23.8 billion and income of $47.5 billion — both record highs.

This year’s state budget, based on an oil price of $36 a barrel, is projecting a deficit of $8.1 billion, with revenues at $29.5 billion and spending at $37.6 billion. The price of Kuwaiti oil currently stands at around $52 a barrel, but in July it exceeded by $68 a barrel for the first time ever.