‘Kuwait project awards expected to reach $10bln in 2022’ – NBK official

‘Kuwait project awards expected to reach $10bln in 2022’ – NBK official

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Kuwait is expected to award projects worth 3 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($9.9 billion) in 2022, according to a top official of the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK).

An NBK press statement quoted Deputy CEO Sulaiman Al-Marzouq saying that public finances improving on the back of high oil prices is expected to accelerate infrastructure project awards in the Gulf state.

"We have a gap in infrastructure projects, and in light of the improving public finances, we expect an acceleration in project awards to reach 3 billion Kuwaiti dinars in 2022," the press statement said, quoting Al-Marzouq's interview with The Banker International magazine.

The Deputy CEO said higher oil prices bode well for Kuwait's fiscal balance.

"The deficit has narrowed to 400 million dinars in 11 months, and we may even see a surplus by the end of the fiscal year (ending in March 2023). We expect this improvement to continue as life returns to normal, especially if oil prices continue to experience an upward trajectory," he observed.

Al-Marzouq admitted that Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) have stagnated over the past few years but expressed optimism that recent government directions and the resolution issued by the Minister of Finance to stop the renewal of state property contracts signed under