KUWAIT: Kuwait public finances have returned to the red afterposting a budget deficit of KD 1.6 billion in the fiscal year 2023/2024 whichended on March 31, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.The shortfall was posted as a result of a 19.4percent drop in oil income to KD 21.5 billion over the previous fiscal year's KD26.7 billion, which led total revenues to slide by 17.9 percent to KD 23.6billion, the ministry said in a statement received by the Kuwait Times. Non-oilincome rose 1.3 percent but remained a non-factor at just  KD 2.1 billion.Total spending in fiscal year 23/24 hit KD 25.2billion, compared to KD 22.4 billion in the previous year, a rise of 12.7percent, the ministry said. Wages and subsidies accounted for KD 20.4billion as high as 81 percent of total spending, while capital expenditure cameat KD 1.86 billion, a meagre 8.0 percent of the spending, the ministry said.Average price of Kuwaiti crude throughout the yearwas at $84.36 a barrel, compared to $97 a barrel last year, and average oilproduction was at 2.65 million barrels daily, almost the same as the previousyear.The ministry recalled that public revenues do notinclude revenues from the Future Generations Fund, the country’s sovereignwealth fund. The Fund’s current assets are estimated by the SovereignWealth Fund Institute at just below $ 1 trillion, a historical record high.The Institute said on Tuesday that Kuwait’sSovereign Wealth Fund has added $177 billion in the past year to hit $980billion. Since March, the Fund has added $56 billion. The figures havenot been officially confirmed as the figures are kept confidential.