Although the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has built oil wells to become the world’s top oil exporter, yet it the highest Gulf country suffering from poverty and unemployment.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the richest country in terms of oil revenues among the Arab Gulf countries, with a daily production of nearly 10 million barrels, which means pumping large daily financial revenues.
In 2018, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia achieved growth in oil export revenues, which amounted to 40.9% compared to 2017.
According to data issued by the Saudi Statistics Authority (a governmental organization), Saudi Arabia recorded an increase in oil revenues during the first 11 months of 2018, amounting to 235.89 billion riyals, or 62.9 billion dollars.
Government and independent economic reports confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has the largest budget in the region in the fiscal year 2019, in which spending rose to 1.106 trillion riyals ($295 billion), compared to actual spending of 1.030 trillion riyals in the previous year 2018.
According to estimates of the 2020 budget, The Kingdom decided to increase its production so that oil revenues jump by 9% to reach 662 billion riyals ($176 billion).
Increasing revenue Vs. increasing poverty
Saudi Arabia increased revenues and oil mean an increase in annual rates, however, there is an increase in the rates of poverty and unemployment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Despite having a cash reserve of $500 billion, which is the largest reserve among the Gulf countries, it occupies the first place in poverty among the Gulf countries, which reached 25%, according to statistics of independent unofficial organizations, while the unemployment rate among Saudis has reached 12.8%, according to government data issued by the Ministry of Labor in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Washington Post said in a previous report that between 2 – 4 million Saudis live on less than $530 a month, i.e., $17 a day.
The Washington Post also said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not disclose the real rates of poverty rates, while the economic centres and organizations struggle to make an approximate rate of poverty rates in Saudi, as many suffer from poverty, especially those living in the remote governorates.
The King Khalid Charitable Society had estimated the adequate income in Saudi Arabia for a family of seven people with about 12,486 riyals per month, considering that below that is below the poverty line.
In a report entitled “Saudi Arabia’s Economic Prospects” in April of 2018, the World Bank issued a warning to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of the worsening and rising rates of poverty in the coming years.
The Director-General of the International Centre for Economic Consultations said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states suffer from an unfair distribution of wealth to their people, despite these countries owning about 35% of the world’s oil reserves, and the Kingdom’s possession of one of the largest sovereign funds in the world.
He added “About 25% of Saudi citizens, equivalent to 5 million citizens, suffer from poverty, in light of the Kingdom’s huge oil resources.
Other reports stated that the wealth of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not stop at its possession of oil, because it has huge industries such as petrochemicals, religious tourism for Hajj and Umrah and the holy places for Muslims, and other resources that generate millions of dollars in the Kingdom, however, the poverty rate is expected to increase over the next years.
Economic analysts attributed the high rate of poverty and unemployment in the Kingdom to several reasons, including the inequality in the distribution of wealth, the open war in Yemen, which drained billions of dollars from the wealth of the Saudi people with a little benefit over the past years, and the huge fantasy projects that the Saudi Crown Prince is implementing, despite the worsening financial crises in the Kingdom.
