ABU DHABI // The UAE provides more development aid as a percentage of gross national income than any country in the world.
The country’s aid budget was US$5 billion in 2013, more than Dh18bn, putting it in first place worldwide, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
Aid from the UAE increased by 375 per cent in 2013 compared with 2012, the OECD said.
“The culture of giving is deeply rooted in our society, and it has been always nurtured by UAE leaders since the inception of the UAE,” said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi, the Minister of International Cooperation and Development, said the rank was not an accidental achievement but rather “a yield of our rational leadership’s directives and the result of the strategic planning for adopting the optimal allocating and channeling of the UAE’s foreign aid in order to assist poor people”.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
