Kuwait trade surplus in 2013 to hit 50% of GDP

Kuwait's trade surplus in 2013 would account for about 50 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a specialized economic report forecasted Saturday. The report, by the National Bank of Kuwait, described the projected surplus drop as limited compared with that of 2012. It noted that the trade surplus in the first quarter of 2013 nosedived by KD 1.1 billion to KD 5.9 billion against that of the corresponding period of last year. The NBK attributed the decline to a rise in the value of imports and decline in the exports revenues. The surplus, however, is still considered high on the international scale, it added. The report revealed that the oil exports' revenues have retreated by 13 percent in the first quarter of the year compared with that of last year whereas the imports grew only by three percent.