Kuwait's cabinet has approved its draft budget for the next fiscal year starting in April with a projected 3.2 per cent rise in spending from the plan for the current year.

The draft 2014/15 budget was approved at a cabinet meeting and still needs parliamentary approval, state news agency KUNA said.

The plan, which was originally published last week, said the major oil producer expects to spend KD21.86 billion ($77.4 billion) in the 2014/15 fiscal year, up by KD681.9 million from the 2013/14 plan.

That is well below the average annual spending rise of 19.2 per cent seen in the last decade to 2012/13, according to Reuters calculations based on official data.-Reuters