Okaz newspaper

I HAVE noticed that so far the majority of the Saudi banks and companies that announced their quarterly results have made profits despite all the grim talk about the economic situation in the Kingdom.

The impact of the economic conditions has not touched the big shots at all but may be the small guns in a certain degree.

Some of the businessmen and investors tend to consider any drop in the profits as downright losses.

I remember that one day I was sitting with the chairman of the board of directors of a cement company. He was complaining that his company ran into losses because its products were no longer exported abroad.

I asked him not to speak about losses but to say that his profits had dropped. I told him that his company was still making huge profits and was distributing dividends among its shareholders.

I also told him that the suspension of exports had positively reflected on the local consumer who was buying the product at a lower price. It was also reflected on the construction sector, which had become more active. So everyone was gaining.

I have no sensitivity toward companies making profits. Rather I consider the success of the companies a crucial element in generating jobs and boosting the national economy.

Therefore I want these companies to continue providing job opportunities to the citizens. Businesses should not consider the decline in their profitability as a justification to cut down the number of their staff, reduce salaries or slash their fringe benefits.

The profits they make, even if they are little, are enough to open many homes and to provide sustenance to a large number of people. This is much better than the rich becoming richer.