Kuwait’s government approved an increase in prices of gasoline sold locally, becoming the latest oil-rich Arab nation to cut subsidies as lower crude prices squeeze finances. The OPEC member will increase the price of the lowest octane gasoline to 85 fils per liter (30 cents) starting September, state-run news agency KUNA reported. The prices of the two higher gasoline grades will be raised to 36 cents and 56 cents per liter, it reported. The new prices were agreed after an “exhaustive study,” and are in line with average rates in Gulf Cooperation Council countries, the government said. The plunge in oil prices has prompted members of the six-nation GCC to revise the generous benefits their citizens traditionally enjoyed, and forced them to tap the international bond market to plug their deficits. Kuwait plans to raise as much as $9.9 billion internationally and 2 billion dinars locally. Oil has slipped […]