Kuwait's current account surplus surged 78 percent in 2011 mainly thanks to a jump in exports, the country's central bank said on Wednesday. 

The current account of one of the world's top oil exporters booked a surplus of 19.53 billion dinars ($70.3 billion) in 2011, or 54.8 percent of 2010 gross domestic product, compared to 10.98 billion dinars in 2010, or 30.8 percent of GDP, it said.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected Kuwait's current account surplus to reach 35.2 percent of GDP in 2011 and 33.6 percent of GDP this year.

"That increase...was mainly an outcome of the rise in the surplus of the balance of goods," the central bank said, adding that it soared by 66.7 percent on an annual basis. It has not yet released 2011 GDP data.

Growth in the net value of Kuwaiti residents' assets abroad also accelerated during 2011, the central bank said. Taking into account the net value of external assets of some government institutions and the central bank's own reserves, the account showed an overall surplus of 13.46 billion dinars compared to a 10.48 billion dinar surplus in 2010. - Reuters