"It is party time for Saudi Arabia right now," said John Sfakianakis, the Riyadh-based Middle East director of the Ashmore Group, an investment company, who estimates that the king's post-coronation giveaway will ultimately cost more than $32 billion.
That is a lot of cash - more, for example, than the entire annual budget for Nigeria, which has Africa's largest economy. Since Salman ascended the throne of this wealthy Arab kingdom last month, he has swiftly taken charge, abolishing government bodies and firing ministers. But no measure has caused as much buzz here as the giant payouts he ordered to a large chunk of the Saudi population.
These included grants to professional associations, literary and sports clubs; investments in water and electricity; and bonuses worth two months of salary to all government employees, soldiers, pensioners and students on government stipends at home and abroad. Some private companies followed suit with comparable bonuses for their Saudi employees, putting another few billion dollars into people's pockets.
Some of the government spending will come over years, but most will hit the Saudi market this month, including the bonuses. About 3 million of Saudi Arabia's 5 1/2 million-person workforce are employed by the government, Sfakianakis said. happy for them!."
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