SAMA: Banks to Postpone Payment of Installments for Saudi Workers

SAMA: Banks to Postpone Payment of Installments for Saudi Workers
TT

SAMA: Banks to Postpone Payment of Installments for Saudi Workers

SAMA: Banks to Postpone Payment of Installments for Saudi Workers

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has directed Saudi local banks to postpone three months installments of all financing products for Saudi workers registered in the support of unemployment insurance (SANED) without any additional costs or fees.

The decision is effective as of April.

SAMA said that postponing the installments does not require submitting request forms from clients, however it said banks should consider and accept the requests of clients who are unwilling to postpone installments.

This comes upon the royal order issued by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to compensate Saudis working in private sector firms that have been impacted by the current consequences of COVID-19 outbreak.



New French Finance Minister Eyes 2025 Deficit Slightly Above 5%

FILE PHOTO: Newly appointed Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Eric Lombard departs following a handover ceremony at the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry in Paris, France, December 23, 2024.  REUTERS/Saboor Abdul/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Newly appointed Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Eric Lombard departs following a handover ceremony at the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry in Paris, France, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Saboor Abdul/File Photo
TT

New French Finance Minister Eyes 2025 Deficit Slightly Above 5%

FILE PHOTO: Newly appointed Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Eric Lombard departs following a handover ceremony at the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry in Paris, France, December 23, 2024.  REUTERS/Saboor Abdul/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Newly appointed Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Eric Lombard departs following a handover ceremony at the Bercy Economy and Finance Ministry in Paris, France, December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Saboor Abdul/File Photo

France's delayed 2025 budget bill will target a deficit of "slightly above 5%" in order to protect growth, the country's new finance minister said in a newspaper interview.
Eric Lombard, previously head of Caisse des Depots, the investment arm of the French government, will be tasked with steering through parliament a budget after the previous government lost a no-confidence vote in early December amid a backlash against its belt-tightening proposals.
Lombard's deficit objective for next year is higher than the 5% targeted by the last government. But it would still represent a drop from this year when the deficit is expected to widen to above 6% of gross domestic product.
"We need to amend this (budget) bill to establish a good budget. With a deficit slightly above 5% so as to protect growth," Lombard told La Tribune Dimanche.
"To protect growth, the reduction of the deficit must come more through reductions in public spending than through taxation," he said, adding that any tax increases should be "very limited.”
According to Reuters, he said he would consult all political parties in the French parliament and that the discussions would contribute to the government's budget proposals.
Lombard was named last Monday as part of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's government.
Bayrou, who, like predecessor Michel Barnier, lacks a working majority in parliament, has said he aims to have a budget ready by mid-February.