Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The oil sheiks?

Despite being world’s biggest oil exporter, 60% of the people in Saudi Arabia live below the country’s poverty line. According to official figures released by Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia (Shura), about 22 percent of Saudi citizens - at least 3 million citizens - live below the poverty line

In an article published by the Okaz daily, Saudi journalist, Khaled al-Harbi wrote that while Saudi Arabia earns 1,500 billion riyals (around $400 billion) a year, the average salary of an ordinary Saudi citizen should not be 1,500 riyals (around $400).

In 2010, Riyadh purchased over 60 billion dollars worth of weapons from the United States, which Washington lauded as the largest arms deal in history.

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