The UAE is at the forefront of charitable giving in the region.
In a report published by Coutts, the private banking firm, it was revealed that last year GCC donors gave at least Dh2.6bn.
Donors in the UAE gave the highest number of US$1m (Dh3.67m) gifts, from nine different sources.
Throughout the year, the country gave Dh852m, amounting to 32 per cent of the total donations for the GCC, with about half of those donations going to domestic charities to support housing and education.
GCC-wide, the majority (37 per cent) of the donations of more than Dh3.67m went to support higher education. The figure accounts for 19 per cent of the total value of those donations.
Three gifts from the region broke the Dh3.67m barrier, including a Dh734.6m million Kuwaiti donation.
In contrast to other countries in the report, most of the Dh3.67m donations (71 per cent) went to charities outside the donor country.
Out of a total of 28 Dh3.67m gifts, 20 were distributed to charities in several countries, especially to non-GCC Arab countries, and about 40 per cent of the gifts were given to disaster-relief charities overseas, particularly to Syria.
According to the report the total amount of donations made worldwide was Dh69.79bn (US$19bn).
ksinclair@thenational.ae
