Saudi Arabia has been ranked as “the largest international donor to humanitarian appeals” when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). The Kingdom gave 0.19 percent of the value of its economy to humanitarian funding abroad. This is large in comparison to the US, which spent 0.02 percent of its GDP on humanitarian aid in 2008. “The US came in 19th on the list,” said a report released by the United Nations last week. Commenting on the report, Riyad Musa, the UN's resident coordinator in Saudi Arabia, said that the rise of Saudi Arabia as the world's top humanitarian donor “is a great success and shows the strong commitments of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to achieving the UN's Millennium Development Goals.” “Recent years have seen the rise of Saudi Arabia as an important and growing force in global development and humanitarian initiatives,” Musa said. “The UN office in Riyadh commends the nation for its solidarity with fellow countries, and stands ready to continue this agenda through our cooperation programs and initiatives in the Kingdom and abroad.” Referring to the humanitarian gesture of the Saudi government, the report said Riyadh 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 percent) and Norway (0.13 percent).
