E-Media:
Geneva - Saudi Arabia has been emerging as an important and growing force in aid for humanitarian activities globally, according to a report released by the United Nations last week.
Saudi Arabia has been ranked as “the largest international donor to humanitarian appeals” when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
The report said the kingdom not only led humanitarian donors as a percentage of GDP when compared to the US, but also in comparison to the more generous European countries, such as Sweden (0.14 per cent) and Norway (0.13 per cent).
According to "Al-Watan" newspaper, the Kingdom gave 0.19 per cent of the value of its economy to humanitarian funding abroad. This is large in comparison to the US, which spent 0.02 per cent of its GDP on humanitarian aid in 2008.
The United Nations has announced that it is running a record funding-shortfall of $ 4.8 billion for its aid operations in 16 crisis-ridden countries, largely because of the global economic downturn that has disproportionately affected the impoverished in the developing world.