Two funds managed by state-run Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) rose 14.4 per cent to KD70.21 billion ($264.4 billion) in the year to March 31, newspapers and parliamentary sources said.

Finance Minister Mustapha Al-Shamali briefed parliament about state assets in a closed-door session on Thursday.

He declined to give figures to reporters after the session but Kuwaiti dailies Al-Watan, Al-Qabas and Al-Seyassah said the assets of the key Future Generations Funds, a nest egg for when oil runs out, was up 15.4 per cent to KD57.859 billion on March 31, the end of the 2007/08 fiscal year.

The fund was set up in 1976 and is managed by the Kia and its overseas unit. The state's General Reserve Fund, also managed by the KIA, rose to KD12.348 billion from KD 11.2 billion last year, the three papers reported.

'The numbers (in the papers) are correct,' said an MP who attended the session, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other parliamentary sources also confirmed this.

Kia manages the surplus wealth of the world's seventh largest oil exporter through the two state-owned funds. Last year, Kia had KD61.4 billion of assets under management on March 31, or about $213 billion then, according to official data.

The government once per year discloses the KIA assets to parliament which approves the Gulf Arab state's budget. KIA is considering investing in the financial industry and might consider raising its stakes in US banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch if a good opportunity came up, Kia managing director Bader Al Saad told Reuters earlier in June.

Gulf Arab states and companies, buoyed by record oil prices, spent about $60 billion on foreign assets last year, almost double the previous two years combined.

Kuwait posted a budget surplus of KD11.44 billion last fiscal year on higher-than-expected oil revenue, preliminary government data showed.

Kuwait invests 10 per cent of its revenue in its Future Generations Fund. A surplus means Kia has more funds to spend on foreign investments.-Reuters