Opec member Kuwait logged a budget surplus of 7.2 billion dinars ($25.07 billion) in the first nine months of its 2009/10 fiscal year on higher-than-forecast oil revenue, data showed on Thursday.

Revenue of the world's fourth-largest oil exporter stood at 12.90 billion dinars at the end of December, about 1.6 times the total revenue budgeted for the fiscal year, according to figures posted on the finance ministry's website.

Oil revenue came in at 12.18 billion dinars and spending in the first nine months to Dec 31 amounted to 5.68 billion dinars, the data showed.
   
The country's 2009/10 budget had forecast a deficit of 4.85 billion dinars on the assumption that crude, the main revenue earner, would fetch $35 a barrel. The benchmark US crude was quoted above $76 a barrel on Thursday. - Reuters