LONDON: The fall in value of the British pound in the current credit crunch has been a blessing for Saudi students on scholarships in the UK.
Just last summer, the British pound was worth more than SR7; in recent weeks it has been around SR5.4.
“It’s really made a big difference,” said Hadeel Bakhsh, a 21-year-old student at Brunel University. “Things seemed so expensive last summer when I used to multiply the price by seven or more. Now it’s just over five. London has never been cheaper for me.”
Saudi students receive monthly allowances in riyals from the Ministry of Higher Education that is fixed to an exchange rate of SR5.9; this was even the case when the pound’s value was SR7.
The fixed rate was introduced last year after students complained of fluctuations in the currency exchange rate and subsequent changes in the value of their allowances.
Now that the pound is worth less than SR5.9, students would benefit if they ask for the allowance to be exchanged according to the current exchange rate. “I think this would be a good idea. Because we are now taking less than we are supposed to due to the fixed rate,” Bakhsh said.
“When the exchange rate was modified, they did not include a clause that it would be fixed at SR5.9 a pound unless the market rate was lower,” said Ibrahim Al-Sini, general chief of Saudi Student Clubs in the UK. “No one was expecting the British pound’s severe crash,” he added.
The Ministry of Higher Education agreed that the exchange rate should be revised after representatives of the student clubs in the UK discussed the issue in a recent meeting at the ministry.
A formal decision has not been made yet, as the decision of fixing the exchange rate was done through a royal decree and needs another royal decree for it to be altered.
