Kuwait's total public debt reaches about KWD 11.6 billion

Kuwait's total outstanding domestic public debt instruments, including bonds and tawarruq operations since April 2016, rose by KWD 2.3 billion to KWD 3.9 billion at the end of September 2026, compared with the end of September 2025. That is according to Al-Shall Consulting's weekly report, which cites the Central Bank of Kuwait's monthly monetary statistical bulletin for September 2026. The figure equals about 8.5% of estimated 2026 GDP of about 45.940 billion (EIU estimates), excluding external public debt.

Total external public debt stood at about USD 21.75 billion at the end of September 2026. Adding the USD 3.25 billion of sovereign bonds Kuwait issued in October, which the bulletin does not cover, raises external public debt to about USD 25 billion, or roughly KWD 7.7 billion. With domestic debt included, total public debt reaches about KWD 11.6 billion, or about 25.2% of GDP.

On credit, total facilities extended by local banks to residents reached about KWD 55.700 billion at the end of September 2026. That is about 52.6% of local banks' total assets and an increase of about KWD 3.321 billion, or about 6.3%, from the end of September 2025.

Personal facilities totalled about KWD 20.906 billion, about 37.5% of total credit to residents, compared with about KWD 19.885 billion at the end of September 2025, up about 5.1%. Within them, instalment loans reached about KWD 18.205 billion, or 87.1% of personal facilities, and consumer loans about KWD 2.068 billion.

Credit to the real estate sector reached about KWD 11.144 billion, or 20.0% of the total, against 10.796 billion at the end of September 2025, up about 3.2%. Credit for purchasing securities reached about KWD 4.966 billion (8.9%), against 4.508 billion. Trade reached about KWD 3.516 billion (6.3%), against 3.823 billion. Construction reached about KWD 2.932 billion (5.3%), against 2.664 billion. Industry reached about KWD 2.583 billion (4.6%), against 2.296 billion. Non-bank financial institutions reached about KWD 1.844 billion (3.3%), against 1.627 billion.

Total deposits at local banks reached about KWD 57.530 billion, about 54.3% of their total liabilities, up about KWD 5.609 billion, or 10.8%, from the end of September 2025. Private-sector customers held about KWD 41.188 billion (71.6%), of which about KWD 38.886 billion (94.4%) was in dinars and the equivalent of about 2.302 billion in foreign currencies. Public institutions held about KWD 10.397 billion and the government about KWD 5.946 billion.

The gap in average interest rates on customer time deposits remains in the dinar's favour against the dollar. At the end of September 2026 it stood at about 0.723 points for one-month deposits, 0.761 points for three months, 0.722 points for six months and 0.709 points for 12 months. At the end of September 2025 it was about 0.796, 0.763, 0.765 and 0.784 points respectively.

The dinar's monthly average exchange rate in September 2026 was about 307.145 fils per dollar. That is up about 0.73% from the September 2025 average of about 304.920 fils per dollar.