Kuwait paid $42 billion in aid over 25 years

KUWAIT: A report issued by the Foreign Ministry revealed that the total amount of payments Kuwait made in humanitarian and developmental aids to different countries over the past twenty five years reached KD 12,000,791,000 (around $42,350,000,000). That amount includes grants, aids and loans to Arab and foreign countries, the report indicates.

“Kuwait’s developmental and economic aids are part of Kuwait’s fixed foreign policy tools,” stressed the report, noting that Kuwait is keen on maintaining the flow of such aids no matter what the circumstances were.

This unique humanitarian role has been always part of Kuwait’s foreign policy and was also the main reason why the entire world was mobilized to support it during the seven-month Iraqi occupation, the report argues.

Further, the report excluded Kuwait’s contributions and donations presented during various humanitarian conferences and summits where, Kuwait gave over $2 billion in addition to millions of dinars donated by various NGOs and charities. Covering the period of 1990-2014, the report explained that the total aids paid by the finance ministry to Arab countries was KD 2,915,000,000, those paid for non-Arab countries was KD 6,676,000,000 in addition to KD 197,936,000 to other various bodies.

The report showed that Bahrain came first among Arab countries receiving KD 728,272,000 in Kuwaiti aid, while the US came first among non-Arab countries receiving KD 4,843,000,000. — Al-Rai