15 programs to improve standard of living in Kingdom

MAKKAH —  A study has said that the Kingdom is running 15 programs under various schemes to improve the standard of living of its citizens, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported on Saturday. The study conducted by Dr. Talha Bint Hussein Fad’aq, professor of sociology at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah, said the program to improve the standard of living of citizens includes social insurance that provides monthly pensions and fixed financial assistance to poor and needy citizens, especially widows, orphans, families in which the breadwinner is a woman, prisoners’ families and citizens with limited income. Through “Charity Fund” (Al-Sandooq Al-Khairi), which was established in 2006, the Kingdom provides easy loans to the needy, offers job opportunities, and activates programs for productive families. Through the Hafiz program, the authorities provide financial allocations for jobseekers, specify minimum salary for government jobs, support the Real Estate Development Fund, raise the value of loans, finance programs at the Saudi Credit and Savings Bank and provide free education and health services to citizens. The Social Trust Network provides food for the poor, meals for schools, health care for mother and child, supplementary nutrition and subsidies. The Kingdom has made great strides in combating poverty, according to the Human Development Report for 2013. The report said the Kingdom occupied the 57th place on the human development guide list that comprises 186 countries. The Kingdom started countering poverty in 2002 when the late King Abdullah issued a royal order to establish a national strategy for tackling poverty on a scientific basis. The state allocated budgets for activating anti-poverty programs.