Poverty on Rise in Saudi Arabia after Aggression against Yemen

“The Saudi economy ministry has recently issued a statement according to which the poverty rate in Saudi Arabia has increased to 20 percent from the previous 14 percent margin,” an informed source in the Saudi economy ministry told FNA on Wednesday.

The source noted that the Saudi officials have not taken any measure to alleviate poverty in the Arab country, and said, “The UNICEF has announced in its annual report that at least 4,000 Saudi children have abandoned their schools as the rising poverty level has affected their families’ economic power.”

In June, a Saudi political activist disclosed that a large number of Saudi nationals are on the verge of starvation as a result of the Riyadh government’s lack of attention.

Tala Ahmed told FNA that a large number of families in the border regions of Saudi Arabia cannot meet their daily needs, and complained that “the Saudi army has looted the houses of these people”.

In August 2013, a Saudi intellectual warned more than 10 million Saudi civilians lived below poverty line.

“More than 10 million of Saudi nationals earn lesser than their basic needs and routine expenditures,” Tawfik el-Seif said at the time.

He reiterated that according to the statistics released by the Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, over three million people were in dire need of government aids because of their poverty.

Seif urged the Saudi regime to help the poor people, noting that the Saudi society enjoyed enough wealth to tackle poverty.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 119 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

The Monarchy’s attacks have so far claimed the lives of at least 5,166 civilians, mostly women and children.