'Kuwaiti assets top $200 billion'

Financial assets of Opec member Kuwait had ballooned to 61.4 billion dinars (213 billion dollars) as at March 31, the largest in the oil-rich emirate's history, the finance minister said Wednesday.
The assets, which grew 30 percent against the previous fiscal year's 166 billion dollars, are invested mostly overseas in two funds managed by the state, Bader Mishari al-Humaidhi said in a statement. One, the Kuwait Fund for Future Generations (KFFG), saw its assets peak at 174 billion dollars, rising by more than three times from 53 billion dollars five years ago, the minister said. The Public Reserve Fund rose to 39 billion dollars.
The figures were disclosed after parliament debated behind closed doors the Gulf state's financial status. The assets are managed by the state-owned Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), mostly in Europe and the United States, in real estate, stocks and other long-term investments. According to law, 10 percent of total revenues is deducted in favour of KFFG, which had assets of more than 100 billion dollars before the 1990 Iraqi invasion.
Its finances were severely depleted due to payments to liberation and reconstruction costs. Returns on KFFG are not included in the country's budget but are automatically added to the fund. Kuwait has boasted a total budget surplus of about 70 billion dollars in the past eight fiscal years, due to a sharp increase in oil income which accounts for about 95 percent of the emirate's total revenues.