Saudi Aid Worth $33 Billion for 78 Countries and Yemen in the Top of the List

Riyadh, MINA — Since the foundation of Saudi Arabia its wealth has not been only limited to its citizens, but it has spread throughout most of the world.

It provided humanitarian aid, charitable grants and soft loans to all countries of the world regardless of color or race, SPA reported on Friday.

The kingdom has always been one of the top countries providing aid in the world.

In order to highlight the kingdom’s effort internationally and to preserve its rights to give in the same way as the major donor countries, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques issued a Royal Decree, under the generous guidance of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, to establish a database of Saudi aid, including the Kingdom’s various humanitarian assistance in coordination with the relevant authorities.

The Center worked on the design and prepare the Platform for the registration of humanitarian, development and philanthropic projects and contributions based on international standards in the registration and documentation of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC-OECD), and the UNs Financial Tracking Service (UNFTS) and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

Saudi aid is in cash and in-kind provided in the form of humanitarian and charitable grants and soft loans to promote development. The aid data also includes payments and subsequent financial commitments. The Saudi donors have been trained to provide and classify the aid in three phases: the first ten years (2007-2017) (the current phase), the second phase (1996-2006) and the third phase which includes the rest of the assistance provided since the establishment of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom has a great long history in the service of humanity worldwide in a variety of sectors and fields, where it is called the Kingdom of Humanity and its name is always associated with issues that call for good, peace giving and humanity.

The Kingdom’s humanitarian Tenders in accordance with the official Saudi Aid Platform in its current phase (2007-2017), have reached a total of ($32.831.124.077) billion, (SR123.116.715.287) billion.

The number of the Kingdom’s of humanitarian, development and philanthropic projects reached (1084), with a total of ($31.901.412.818), (SR119.630.298.069), for 78 benefiting countries.

The financial contributions to international organizations and entities included (489) contributions totaling ($929.711.258), and (SR3.486.417.218) to 37 beneficiaries. The development aid amounted to ($493.889) billion and humanitarian aid by about ($353.440) billion, while philanthropic aid reached ($82.381) billion.

The top five recipient countries of aid from Saudi Arabia are: Yemen with a total of $14 billion for 290 projects, followed by Syria with a total of $3 billion/153 projects, Egypt ranked third with a total of $2 billion/20 projects, while Niger ranked fourth with a total amount of $1.230 billion/7 projects, Mauritania included 14 projects in fifth place of Saudi aid with a total of $1.219 million.

UN and OIC

In addition, the top five beneficiaries of the Kingdom’s contributions, the United Nations with 45 contributions totaling about ($303.37) million, the General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf with 23 contribution totaling ($225.849) million, the League of Arab States with 28 contributions totaling ($140.810) million, the UN developing program with 24 contributions totaling ($80.200)million and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation with 21 contributions totaling ($48.395) million.

The official public statistics of Saudi humanitarian, development and philanthropic projects to serve the continents and regions worldwide, have reached more than $21.165 billion in Asia, $9.810 billion in Africa, $379 million in Europe, $376 million in North America and $170 million in Europe and Central Asia.

The number of partners was 192, the number of sectors was 20 and the Saudi donors amounted to 10 entities, where the value of development aid amounted to $21 billion, humanitarian aid was about $21 billion, while philanthropic donations amounted to $39 billion.

The top ten projects have reached the highest level by sector, including humanitarian aid relief aid in emergency cases by 69% for 716 projects, Transportation with 73 projects, Religious and Social Philanthropic Activates with 62 projects,

Education with 60 projects, Health with 42 projects, Water and Public Health with 29 projects, Power generation and supply with 20 projects in addition to other projects . (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)