Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance will not approve preliminary estimates from government agencies for the draft budget for the fiscal year (2020-2021) that amounted to KD27.7 billion (about $91 billion), said its Minister Nayef al-Hajraf. His remarks were made during a speech at the second annual Public Finance Forum, held by the Ministry on Sunday. The forum was attended by government agencies specialized in preparing the budget to guide the bodies to abide by the Ministry’s decisions and circulars. Hajraf urged all parties to submit realistic budgets that take expenses into consideration and are in accordance with the results of the last final account. He noted that in the absence of realistic budgets, the Ministry will put estimates instead of the bodies, which shall abide by them. Hajraf also called for cooperation with his Ministry to determine the priorities of disbursement during the participation in workshops that are scheduled to be held for the first time from October 15 till 29 in the ministry building to help government agencies develop and reduce budget estimates, according to the state’s approach and plan. “Preliminary estimates for 20-21 budget is inflated and unrealistic,” Hajraf noted, adding that it is unacceptable and does not contribute to enhancing the budget’s financial balance. He stressed the need for every one to be aware of their role in reducing waste in expenditure without affecting people’s standard of living and capital expenditure on development projects. The Finance Ministry has received a full draft budget from 31 bodies and incomplete draft budgets from 24 bodies. It still hasn’t received the budgets from 13 bodies, he said. These projects stem from the development plan, which prioritizes government agencies, he said, pointing to the ministrys readiness to provide any technical support for government agencies to prepare this budget in order to achieve financial balance.