Government spending on development projects significantly decline in 13 yrs

Expenditure rate only 26%

KUWAIT CITY, March 12: Official figures issued by government agencies revealed a significant decline in government spending on development projects included in the budget of various institutions, as the total expenditure on these projects, despite the passage of more than 11 months since the beginning of the current fiscal 2022-2023, amounted to about 338 million dinars only out of a total of 1.3 billion dinars that had been allocated to these projects, with an expenditure rate of only 26%, which is the lowest in 13 years.

There are 128 development projects planned for the current fiscal year, most of which are in the implementation phase (59 projects), while there are 53 projects still in the preparation phase, and 6 projects that have not yet started, while the total number of projects in the delivery phase is only 10.

Implementation

Despite the decrease in the number of projects planned for implementation during the current fiscal year compared to previous years, and the decrease in the total financial allocations set aside for this purpose, the concerned authorities were unable to achieve the required achievement in the implementation of these projects, which is reflected in the numbers of government spending indicators.

A special statistic, prepared by Al-Qabas, indicated that the total allocation for development projects decreased from 5.6 billion dinars in the fiscal year 20102011 to 1.3 billion dinars in the current fiscal year 20222023, which was also witnessed by the exchange rates, as the real spending on projects reached in 2010-2011 about 3.1 billion dinars, at a rate of 61%, to reach less than 26% only during the current fiscal year, with a total expenditure of 338 million dinars.

According to a previous government report that monitored the main indicators of development projects, the constant changes in government agencies are among the main obstacles that stand in the way of implementing development plans projects.

Development plans projects have been suffering for some time from a noticeable decline in completion rates for legislative, executive, administrative and financial reasons.