Allowances, benefits for civil and military staff restored Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman restored all allowances and benefits to civil and military staff. King Salman also ordered holding of final examinations for all phases of public and university education before the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
In a series of royal decrees issued on Saturday night, King Salman also announced Cabinet reshuffles and key appointments of emirs and deputy emirs in several provinces as well as other senior positions.
Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman was named the Kingdom's new minister of state for energy affairs.
Awad Al-Awad has been appointed minister of culture and information, replacing Adel Al-Turaifi.
Minister of Communications Muhammad Al-Suwail has been relieved and Muhammad Al-Sawaha was appointed as new minister.
Prince Khalid Bin Salman has been appointed Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States in place of Prince Abdullah Bin Faisal Al-Saud.
Minister of Civil Service Khaled Al-Araj was removed from his post and Essam Bin Saeed will be in charge of the ministry. A ministerial committee has been constituted to investigate into excesses made by Al-Araj
The Council of Ministers on 26 Sept. 2016 decided to cancel or stop some of allowances and financial benefits for civilian and military staff as part of the austerity measures. These allowances and benefits have been restored following an improvement in the state revenues and reduction in budget deficit, the royal decree noted.
According to another decree, two months' salary will be paid as allowance to those who are employed in operations Decisive Desert Storm and Restoration of Hope on frontlines, and they include staff from the ministries of interior, defense, National Guard and the General Intelligence Presidency.
The royal decrees include the following appointments:
Emirs: Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen relieved as Hail emir and appointed as special adviser at Royal Court. Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Saad is the new emir of Hail.
Prince Hossam Bin Saud is new emir of Al-Baha; Prince Mushari Bin Saud relieved.
Prince Faisal Bin Khalid Bin Sultan is new emir of Northern Border Province; Prince Mishal Bin Abdullah Bin Musaed relieved.
Deputy emirs:
Deputy emirs have been appointed for the following provinces Prince Muhammad Bin Abdurahman –Riyadh; Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar – Makkah; Prince Saud Bin Khaled Bin Faisal –Madinah; Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud –Jazan; Prince Mansour Bin Muqrin –Asir; Prince Fahd Bin Turki –Al-Qassim; Prince Turki Bin Hadloul –Najran; and Ahmad Bin Abdullah as governor of Diriyah.
Deputy ministers: Abdurahman Al-Aasimi –education; Majed Al-Bawardi –commerce and investment; Tarek Al-Faris –municipal and rural affairs; Mansour Al-Anzi – environment, water and agriculture; Saad Bin Abdulaziz –transport.
Abdurahman Bin Muhammad has been appointed as the new secretary general of the Council of Minister in the rank of a minister.
Muhammad Abdul Malik Al-Asheikh is the new chairman of the General Authority of Sports, replacing Prince Abdullah Bin Musaed.
Prince Fahd Bin Turki was appointed as commander of the Ground Forces. According to another decree, the service of Youef Al-Idrisi, deputy head of the General Intelligence was ended.
Ali Al-Hazmi is the new governor of Saline Water Conversion Corporation while Ahmad Al-Hoqabi is the new director general of Customs. Muhammad Al-Auhali was appointed as president of King Faisal University.
Prince Faisal Bin Farhan has been appointed as adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while Nasser Al
