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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lazy-saudis-are-on-brink-of-bankruptcy-92jdvggln Lazy Saudis are on brink of bankruptcy Bel Trew, Cairo October 22 2016, 12:00am, The Times Saudi Arabia’s government warned that, unless serious action was taken, the state coffers would soon be emptyReuters Civil servants in Saudi Arabia work only an hour a day and the country faces bankruptcy in three years unless austerity measures are enforced, senior officials have warned. The bloated public sector, which employs more than 70 per cent of the workforce, is woefully unproductive, according to Khaled al-Araj, the civil service minister. He told a TV debate that state employees, many of whom had little incentive to work, barely put in 60 minutes a day at the office. The uncharacteristically blunt and public assessment comes as the country struggles with falling oil prices. Its budget deficit was nearly $100 billion last year. Last month, public sector salaries, which accounted for half of all government spending last year, were slashed but Mr al-Araj urged further cuts given his assessment of civil servants’ timekeeping and work ethic. The system was so badly run that wages were paid to government employees even if they had left their jobs, he said. “It directly and negatively affects government institutions,” he said on MBC, the Saudi TV network. Speaking during the same debate Muhammad al-Tuwaijri, Saudi Arabia’s deputy economy minister, warned that unless serious action was taken the coffers would soon be empty. “If oil prices keep declining and the Saudi government does not take action with economic and austerity measures . . . bankruptcy in the kingdom is inevitable within three to four years,” he said. Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of Rai al-Youm, the pan-Arab news website, called the ministerial comments unprecedented. They caused alarm among ordinary Saudi Arabians, who are used to government handouts and subsidies, with several calling for divine intervention to save the country. It may also unnerve foreign investors, who this week bought $17.5 billion of Saudi Arabian debt. They were told that the country would curb its budget deficit and limit public spending even though officials from Riyadh promoting the bond sale flew into the US on private jets and held a gourmet lunch at the luxury St Regis Hotel, in Manhattan, The Wall Street Journal reported. Crude oil prices have fallen from $112 a barrel in 2014 to about $50 today. In April Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince, announced his Vision 2030 economic plan, which vowed to end the “addiction” to oil and invest instead in other promising sectors, including tourism. In September King Salman released a royal decree cutting the salaries of ministers by a fifth, including that paid to the crown princes. In the same decree, which was unprecedented, public sector bonuses were cancelled, paid overtime was curtailed and annual leave was cut. Civil servants’ salaries rose by 74 per cent between 2004 and 2013, which means that the average civil servant earns about £35,000 a year, according to a report published last December by McKinsey & Co, the management consultancy. During the TV debate Mr al-Tuwaijri hinted at further cuts to come, saying that the lion’s share of government spending went on bloated salaries.
