Saudi Arabia is a regional powerhouse and global policy shaper: World Bank official 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is the driving force behind the economic growth of the Middle East region and plays a pivotal role in shaping regional and global policies, according to a senior World Bank official. 

Speaking to the Saudi Press Agency on the sidelines of a conference of the Arab world at Harvard University in Boston, Yaarub Al-Yaarubi, the senior adviser to the executive director of the World Bank, emphasized the Kingdom’s global significance. 

Al-Yaarubi said the Saudi support of the WB International Development Association for low-income countries is proof of its significant and rapidly expanding role in the world. 

He underscored Saudi Arabia’s efforts to tackle climate change and applauded the Kingdom for its global initiatives. 

World Bank President Ajay Banga met with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh in October to discuss ways to reduce poverty, boost shared prosperity, and promote sustainable development. 

Banga noted that new contributions from wealthy countries combined with balance sheet changes could boost the bank’s lending capacity by $100 billion to $125 billion over a decade. 

According to a recent World Bank report, the Kingdom, through its membership in the G20 and in coordination with the countries of this group, is exerting efforts to achieve stability and support developing countries, in addition to its contribution to regional and international development institutions.

The Kingdom’s Minister of State, Adel Al-Jubeir, emphasized these efforts on Nov. 16, stating that Saudi Arabia is one of the “very few countries” in the world that adhered to the commitments set by the UN “decades ago” about providing 0.7 percent of gross domestic product for foreign assistance.

Through the Saudi Fund for Development alone, the region has financed over 800 development projects and programs amounting to over $20 billion in more than 100 developing countries worldwide.