Jittery Saudis to placate public with new social reforms

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah boosted spending on housing by 40 billion riyals ($10.7 billion), and earmarked more funds for education and social welfare amid popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world.

The social security budget was raised by 1 billion riyals, according to a statement read on state-run television. King Abdullah also ordered the creation of 1,200 jobs in supervision programs and made permanent a 15 percent cost-of-living allowance for government employees, according to the statement…

“They are trying to enlarge the pool of benefits for society given what is happening in the broader Middle East,” John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, said in a phone interview from Riyadh.