Kuwait’s Central Bank Holds 10.08 Billion Dinars in Official Reserves
Kuwait’s official reserve assets fell to 10,081.6 million dinars at the end of August 2026, from 10,659.8 million at the end of July and 13,048.1 million a year earlier, according to the Central Bank of Kuwait’s monthly statistics. That is a fall of 5.4 percent in the month and 22.7 percent over the year, on our calculation, and the fifth consecutive monthly decline since the reserves last rose in March.
Deposits abroad drive the decline
Foreign currency and deposits abroad, the largest component, fell to 8,416.8 million dinars from 10,833.5 million at the end of 2025. That drop of 2,416.7 million is slightly larger than the 2,384.1 million fall in total reserves over the same eight months, on our calculation, because the holding of special drawing rights edged up. In August itself, the IMF reserve position also slipped, to 220.7 million from 229.8 million. The deposits component’s share of total reserves has eased to 83.5 percent from 87.5 percent a year earlier.
| Component | Aug 2025 | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foreign currency and deposits abroad | 11,411.3 | 8,987.7 | 8,416.8 |
| Special drawing rights | 1,329.8 | 1,359.7 | 1,361.5 |
| IMF reserve position | 223.7 | 229.8 | 220.7 |
| Foreign securities | 51.5 | 50.8 | 50.8 |
| Monetary gold | 31.7 | 31.8 | 31.7 |
| Total | 13,048.1 | 10,659.8 | 10,081.6 |
Million dinars. Table 28.
The August reading against earlier Augusts
The August total is below every August reading in the table from 2021 to 2025, which ranged from 13,048.1 million dinars in 2025 to 14,739.7 million in 2023. Since the end of 2025, when reserves stood at 12,465.7 million, the fall comes to 19.1 percent, on our calculation.
The release does not explain the movement.
Why it matters: official reserve assets are the foreign assets held on the central bank’s own balance sheet: gold, the IMF reserve position, special drawing rights, foreign currency and deposits abroad, and foreign securities. The 22.7 percent fall in 12 months compares with a series that held between 13 and 15 billion dinars in each August from 2021 to 2025. The central bank notes that the data do not include external assets held by the Kuwait Investment Authority, so the figures are not a measure of the country’s wider sovereign investment holdings.
Outlook: the September figure will show whether the run of five monthly declines continues. The component to watch is foreign currency and deposits abroad, which has driven the fall this year.
Sources: Central Bank of Kuwait.
