Additional Support to Beneficiaries of Saudi Citizen Account Program Extended

King Salman bin Abdulaziz (SPA)
King Salman bin Abdulaziz (SPA)
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Additional Support to Beneficiaries of Saudi Citizen Account Program Extended

King Salman bin Abdulaziz (SPA)
King Salman bin Abdulaziz (SPA)

Additional assistance given to beneficiaries of Saudi Arabia’s Citizen Account Program will be extended for another three months until March with registration in the Program being reopened in line with the previously announced regulations.

The move comes after an order made by King Salman at the recommendation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Royal directives issued in July 2022 allocated a total of SAR20 billion for the Program, of which SAR8 billion was allocated as additional financial support for beneficiaries of the program until the end of the fiscal year 2022.

The Saudi leadership approving additional support for those registered in the Program comes as an extension of the attention that the state gives to families most in need of support to help them face the repercussions of high global prices.

The continuation of registration in the Program aims to expand the circle of beneficiaries of the allocated subsidy to include those who are eligible.

Moreover, the Program proved highly efficient as it is one of the ideal tools for directing subsidies to the beneficiaries.

The Program has proved successful in mitigating the vulnerability of families to some economic reforms.

The mechanism for directing the amount of additional support in the Program depends on the criteria of the size and income of families. It is also based on the principle of achieving social justice by directing the highest amount of support to the neediest families.

The Program, in implementation of the royal directive, started depositing the support allocated for the month of January at about SAR3.6 billion.

This support is being funneled to beneficiaries whose requests have been completed, as the number of beneficiaries who met the eligibility criteria in the sixty-second installment reached 11.1 million.

Since its launch, the Program has paid beneficiaries more than SAR145 billion, of which 1.8 billion riyals were compensation for previous payments.



Saudi Arabia Welcomes Macron’s Decision to Recognize Palestine as a State 

France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he waits for Lebanon's Prime Minister ahead of their working lunch at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, on July 24, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he waits for Lebanon's Prime Minister ahead of their working lunch at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, on July 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Saudi Arabia Welcomes Macron’s Decision to Recognize Palestine as a State 

France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he waits for Lebanon's Prime Minister ahead of their working lunch at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, on July 24, 2025. (AFP)
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he waits for Lebanon's Prime Minister ahead of their working lunch at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, on July 24, 2025. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia welcomed on Thursday French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to recognize Palestine as a state.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said the Kingdom hails “this historic decision, which underscores the international community’s consensus on the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The Kingdom stressed “the importance of continued efforts by states to implement international resolutions and uphold international law.”

It reiterated its call for all countries that have not yet recognized the State of Palestine “to take similar positive steps and adopt serious positions that support peace and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the UN General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote.

The mostly symbolic move puts added diplomatic pressure on Israel as the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip rage. France is now the biggest Western power to recognize Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.