* Surplus at 13.2 bln dinars, or 27.1 pct/GDP in 2011/12
* Spending at 17.0 bln dinars, below plan
* Revenues at record 30.2 billion dinars on oil
* Parliament has yet to clear budget for current fiscal year
KUWAIT, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Kuwait booked a record budget
surplus of 13.2 billion dinars ($47 billion) in the fiscal year
that ended in March thanks to robust oil income and lower
spending than planned, a consultancy said on Sunday, citing
preliminary finance ministry figures.
The fiscal surplus of the major oil exporter reached 27.1
percent of 2011 gross domestic product, according to a Reuters
calculation based on an April GDP estimate by the International
Monetary Fund.
That is well up from 5.3 billion dinars, or 14.8 percent of
2010 GDP in 2010/11. A Reuters poll in July forecast the surplus
to reach 22.3 percent of GDP in the current fiscal year.
The finance ministry was not immediately able to confirm the
budget figures when contacted by Reuters.
Kuwait originally set its 2011/12 budget with a deficit of 6
billion dinars based on an assumed oil price of $60 per barrel.
Spending stood at 17.0 billion dinars in 2011/12, a note by
al-Shall Consulting said, 2.4 billion dinars short of what was
planned but above 16.2 billion spent in the previous fiscal
year. The OPEC member usually undershoots its expenditure plans.
Revenues were 30.2 billion dinars with oil income making up
nearly 95 percent of the total, the report said. That is more
than double what was envisaged in the budget and the highest
income ever, central bank data shows.
Despite its healthy fiscal position, Kuwait is struggling to
diversify its heavily oil-reliant economy as a long-running
political row holds up investment.
Kuwait's parliament failed to swear in a new cabinet last
week after lawmakers boycotted the session, making the
dissolution of the assembly likely and throwing the country into
more political upheaval.
The parliament, which will attempt to meet again on Tuesday,
has yet to approve the budget for 2012/13, although the fiscal
year started in April.
Kuwait's emir reappointed Nayef al-Hajraf as finance
minister last month. He took over in May after the resignation
of ministry veteran Mustapha al-Shamali, who had voiced concerns
about the country's dependency on oil revenues.
Analysts and policymakers say Kuwait's wealth has led to
complacency. The IMF said in May that the Gulf Arab state risks
exhausting all of its oil savings by 2017 if it keeps on
spending money at the current rate.
It said Kuwait, one of the world's richest countries per
capita, would have to cut the fiscal deficit excluding oil and
debt servicing by at least 7 billion dinars by 2017 to ensure
long-term fiscal sustainability.
(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Martin Dokoupil and
Catherine Evans)