MAKKAH, 23 May 2006 — The stock market crash, which affected more than 3.5 million middle income investors, has delayed the marriages of many people this summer, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported.

Every summer, tens of thousand of Saudis get married but this year, the number is expected to drop by more than 50 percent.

Fahd Al-Harbi, a wedding hall owner, said that many people who had made reservations cancelled them after the crash.

Al-Harbi said that many wedding hall owners would reduce prices to attract customers and that he had reduced his prices by more than 50 percent.

Saleh Al-Muntasheri has postponed his wedding which was scheduled for the summer because of the crash. He said that he had lost SR120,000.

Ahmad Ali is another Saudi who lost money in the crash. He said he had lost SR67,000 which had taken him more than five years to save.

He said he had been forced to cancel his wedding because he could not afford it and that he would not borrow the money.