Asharq Alawsat reports that the Saudi government is going to re-appraise its anti-poverty efforts. Inflation, now running at 11%, is hurting many of the poorer Saudis, driving some below the government-defined poverty level. The writer points out that population growth is one of the factors pushing families into poverty, but there are no government programs supporting birth control, a highly-charged topic with religious conservatives.

Saudi Arabia to Overhaul National Anti-Poverty Strategy
Turki Al-Saheil

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – Saudi Arabia is in the process of upgrading its national anti-poverty strategy in order to cope with the high cost of living according to information made available to Asharq Al-Awsat. In fact, the rate of inflation has reached a record of 11.1 percent in July 2008, which is the highest rate the country has ever witnessed in the last 25 years, according to the latest official information issued by the government.

Although no date has been set for the start of the overhaul of the anti-poverty strategy, which was first launched in October 2006, the government did reveal that the upgrading process will last several months, and that a team headed by the Minister of Social Welfare and members from the interior, finance, economy, planning, labor and social welfare ministries, as well as philanthropists from the private sector will supervise the project.

According to information made available to Asharq Al-Awsat there are 35,000 Saudi families suffering from abject poverty.. This number constitutes1.6 per cent of the total number of families registered with the General Statistics Department. These families were supposed to benefit from the supplementary support program which is a 264-million Riyal program seeking to bridge the gap between the real income of families and the abjectly poor individuals.
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