Saudi newspapers highlighted in their editorials today a number of issues at local, regional and international arenas. Okaz newspaper reported in its editorial that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's strong foreign policy remains firm in dealing with global events, which has earned it trust and respect of the leaders and peoples of the world. Saudi Arabia has earned such trust and respect due to applying equality, justice, achieving security and welfare for peoples, in addition to its commitment to covenants, along with standing with its allies against threats targeting their countries, the paper added. The contents of U.S. President Joe Biden's speech are similar to the Saudi approach in dealing with the region's issues, especially the Yemeni file, which Iran is exploiting by supporting the Houthi militias with missiles and various weapons to destabilize the security and stability of the region and target airports and civilian objects in Saudi Arabia, the paper further added. In this regard, Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz affirmed that Saudi Arabia continues supporting the diplomatic efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution in Yemen, based on the three references, in addition to its political and military support for the legitimacy in Yemen, the paper concluded. Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported in its editorial that GCC countries enjoy great political and economic stability compared to many countries in the region and the world, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which topped the Gulf group is working largely on economic policies and on approach based on a fair distribution of income, services and balanced development that target people in first place. These policies were evident in the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic was addressed, as the public finance provided support packages for the economy and health that exceeded SR 250 billion, the paper said. The Saudi Minister of Finance pointed out in one of the meetings that the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has liquidated some assets amounting to SR 70 billion to inject them into the private sector to enable it to run its business, the paper added. Saudi Arabia's success in dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic made the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raise its expectations for growth due to what it described as stronger than expected performance for oil-exporting countries, as some countries have not witnessed a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, which boosted non-oil economic activity in these countries, the paper further added. IMF's official confirmed that the non-oil sector in Saudi Arabia will recover faster, expecting that the recovery will reach a growth of 3.5 % this year, attributing the reasons for this rapid recovery and the above expected performance to Saudi Arabia being one of the countries that moved quickly to provide stimulus packages last year, the paper concluded.
