RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is reducing the salaries and benefits of senior officials and the Cabinet cut bonuses for public employees on Monday, as lower oil prices continue to pinch the kingdom’s economy.
The royal decree orders a 20 percent reduction in the salaries of ministers, among them the king’s successors: Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, and Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman. It also stipulates that ministers pay their own phone bills for personal lines.
Monday’s decree also includes a 15 percent reduction in benefits for members of the country’s highest consultative body, the Shura Council, which is appointed by the king. Those include sums toward housing, a car, its maintenance and fuel during a member’s four-year term.
It marks the first cut to public sector wages since the kingdom began reining in spending after oil prices tumbled in mid-2014.
The unusual move was accompanied by a Cabinet decision to put new limits on public sector employees, many of whom have complained of already low wages.