The Citizen's Account Program in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
is a cash transfer program that started in December 2017. The program is adopted and implemented by
The Ministry of Labor and Social Development. Through the programme, citizens in Saudi Arabia get monthly payments from the state. Saudi Arabia is doing
many reforms to reduce the country's dependency on
oil revenues, but many of these reforms have overburdened some citizens. The Citizen's Account, which is a form of
basic income
Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...
, is designed to balance this up, to avoid burdening lower income families which would otherwise occur despite higher prices for oil, fuel and energy. This financial support comes as a response to the increase the costs of electricity and petrol as well as the imposing of
VAT on many products.
In December 2017, immediately before the programme began, more than 3.7 million households had registered, representing 13 million people, or more than half the population. , between 1/5 and 1/3 of Saudi residents are estimated to be non-citizens.
[Saudi Arabia](_blank)
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.
As of March 2021, the programme has officially paid out over £400,000,000.
Program objectives
* Developing the services given to citizens
* Improving the government's expenditure and operation efficiency
* Providing assistance to citizens with a high level of transparency and efficiency
See also
*
Economy of Saudi Arabia
*
Guaranteed minimum income
Guaranteed minimum income (GMI), also called minimum income (or mincome for short), is a social-welfare system that guarantees all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on, provided that certain eligibility conditions are met, typical ...
References
Universal basic income
2017 establishments in Saudi Arabia
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