RIYADH, 4 February — Pointing out that poverty reduction schemes should take into account the cultural norms and traditions of a society, Deputy Minister of Finance and National Economy Dr. Jobarah Al-Suraisry has said that the Kingdom's economic reforms were designed to create more jobs within these parameters.
He was chairing a function yesterday for the maiden launch of the World Bank's "World Development Report (2000-2001) -- Attacking Poverty" in Riyadh, selected as the first Middle Eastern capital for the release of the report.
Dr. John Page, director for poverty reduction at The World Bank, delivered the keynote address in which he outlined the approach of the report in dealing with the dimensions of poverty.
Other speakers who offered comments were Abdullah Al-Mogbel, deputy minister of communications; Dr. Muhammad Hassan Mufti, director of Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh; Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, minister of finance, planning and development of Pakistan's Sindh province; Edgar Saravia, resident representative of the World Bank in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Prajapati Trivedi, resident economist of the World Bank in Saudi Arabia, introduced the speakers.
The report mentions that stock market capitalization in Saudi Arabia rose from $48.213 billion in 1990 to $60.44 billion in 1999. It also refers to the growing role of the banking sector in providing domestic credit as a percentage of the GDP -- from 14.4 percent to 46.6 percent during the reporting period. The gross international reserves surged substantially from $13.437 billion to $16.997 billion. The GDP rose from $104.67 billion to $128.892 billion.
Dr. Suraisry said he was happy to note that the World Bank had given a good rating to Saudi Arabia with an institutional investor credit rating of 55.1. Such a rating makes the Kingdom a safe country to deal with in terms of credit transactions.
Referring to the Kingdom's economic reforms, the deputy minister pointed out the setting up of the Supreme Economic Council and the Higher Tourism Authority. The thrust of these economic reforms was to attract investment and create job opportunities, an important factor, according to WDR, in eliminating poverty.
Dr. Al-Suraisry also spoke about the development of infrastructure, promotion of IT, and manufacture of value-added products by the private sector. He said the World Bank was providing valuable input through its technical cooperation program.
In his keynote address and later at a press conference, Dr. Page said Riyadh was chosen as the venue for the launch of WDR because the Kingdom was considered to be a leader in the Gulf region. It was also a major contributor to the World Bank. It has subscribed three percent of the Bank's share capital of $191 billion.
Summing up the main recommendations of the report for alleviating poverty, Dr. Page said they were education, provision of opportunity for jobs or marketing of goods and services, empowerment (as a means of enhancing the capacity of the poor to influence the state institutions that affect their lives), and security for reducing their vulnerability to risks, such as ill health, economic shocks and natural disasters.
He said it was equally important to tackle the problem of corruption, which he described as a "regressive tax on the poor."
