JEDDAH, 24 August 2005 — Prince Faisal ibn Abdul Majeed, chairman of the board of Saudi White Cement and Riyadh Cement, said yesterday that he was increasing the salaries of all employees in the two private companies by 15 percent in response to Monday’s royal gesture raising salaries of public servants.
“We have taken this initiative after the royal decree issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, raising the salaries of all Saudi government employees by 15 percent in order to make private sector employees as happy as their counterparts in the public sector,” Prince Faisal said.
In a press statement, the prince said the new salary hike would be effective from the first of the holy month of Ramadan (Oct. 4). The salary increase for government employees also starts the same day.
He said the royal decree, which also allocated SR78 billion for welfare projects in education, health and housing sectors, would improve living condition of Saudis.
Prince Faisal said these huge financial allocations from budget surplus would strengthen the economy and create more job opportunities for Saudis. “The prime objective of the king is to ensure security and prosperity of citizens,” he added.
Also yesterday, an elderly Saudi woman living in the Eastern Province raised the wage of her Sri Lankan maid by 10 percent after hearing about the royal gesture.
“When I heard about the news from my son I was overjoyed. I wanted everyone in the house to share our happiness over this gesture. So I decided to raise the salary of our housemaid as well,” the 70-year-old woman told Arab News.
The woman said she was not surprised by the royal decree. “This is not a surprising decision from our leaders who had sought to improve the welfare of citizens throughout history. Day by day this country is prospering and developing thanks to wise decisions of our leaders,” she added.
On her part, the Sri Lankan maid expressed her delight in receiving an increase in her monthly salary, saying the generosity of the Saudi people was well known to every one. The maid said she had always been treated kindly by the woman and that had encouraged her to stay and work for the family.
Saudis exchanged thousands of congratulatory messages through SMS and radio and television after the salary hike, which came after a long wait of 25 years. Many of the text messages expressed thanks to King Abdullah.
Several private companies are also expected to follow the king’s example to raise salaries of their employees.
Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper carried a full-page advertisement saying Al-Yamamah Press Establishment, its mother company, had decided to increase the wages of all its employees by 15 percent.
Many employees in private companies are expecting a similar pay raise. “We are expecting a raise, but are not very optimistic,” said an engineer who requested anonymity.
But some companies and banks have not yet decided whether to increase salaries or not. Abdullah Abdul Qader Albar, in-charge of financing and personal accounts in Saudi-Holandi Bank said his bank was not considering any salary hike.
“Salaries of the bank’s employees are already very high and we aren’t thinking of increasing them further,” he said quoting the general manager, Mohamed Saleh Al-Zahrani.
Zuhair Ba Smair, account executive at Drive Communication, a Japanese company owned by Abdul Latif Jameel, said, “No one in the company has mentioned any plan about increasing salaries. The management did not discuss this issue. However, all employees have a high expectation and they wish to have an increase in their salaries.”
Some other companies are studying their budgets to see whether they could afford to raise the salary of their employees.
