A coffee shop is seen empty of customers after Saudi Arabia's decision to ban gatherings. - Filepic
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia announced a slew of austerity measures to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and an oil-price rout, tripling its value-added tax and cutting a cost-of-living allowance for government workers.
The steps taken to shore up revenue and rationalise spending are valued at about 100 billion riyals (US$26.6bil) in total, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Overall spending for 2020 will remain close to what was planned as money saved gets re-allocated to health care and aid for businesses, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in a telephone interview yesterday.
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