RIYADH, 30 January 2006 — Riyadh Governor Prince Salman will inaugurate today social security payment by ATM cards. A total of 1.2 million Saudis and their families will benefit. Actual payment, however, will begin Tuesday, the first day of 1427H.
This is the first time social security payments will be made monthly instead of annually as in the past. The amount payable to beneficiaries has also been increased according to the royal decision last year that gave government employees a 15 percent salary increase. The new system will operate through 1,480 ATM terminals belonging to the Al-Rajhi Bank. The beneficiaries include the elderly, widows, orphans, divorcees and the handicapped, Muhammed Al-Oqla, undersecretary for social security affairs at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said.
An individual drawing SR5,400 annually in 1993 (1413H — the year when social security payments were last increased) will now receive SR9,400. The amount will be paid at the rate of SR782 per month.
Other categories are as follows: SR7,200 increased to SR12,500 at SR1041 monthly; SR9,000 to SR15,600 at SR1200 monthly; SR10,800 to SR18,700 at SR1,558 monthly; SR12,600 to SR21,800 at SR1,816 monthly; SR14,400 to SR24,900 at SR2,075 monthly; SR16,200 to SR 28,000 at SR2,333 monthly.
Al-Oqla pointed out that a special feature of the system is that the beneficiary will have to register his thumb print on an ink pad in a specially designed module attached to the ATM terminal. When the person presses his thumb onto the ink pad, the data will be conveyed to all the connected terminals.
The decision to increase social security payments reflects the Kingdom’s policy to allow the benefits of oil revenues to filter down. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah also gave a new dimension to the Kingdom’s social welfare program when he donated SR2 billion for housing projects to provide decent housing for the Kingdom’s poor and needy.
Under Article 27 (Welfare Rights) of the Kingdom’s Basic Law of Governance, the state guarantees the rights of the citizen and his family in cases of emergency, illness and disability and in old age. It supports the system of social security and encourages institutions and individuals to make charitable contributions.
