Although the matter had been under discussion recently, as reported, there had been opposition from the country’s traditionalist clerics.
However, on Sunday, the country’s ruler, King Abdullah, unexpectedly issued a royal decree announcing the change.
The move will synchronise the Saudi Arabian weekend with that of the other five members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, while also giving it an extra day’s overlap with western countries that work Mondays through Fridays.
Nasser Saidi, the former Lebanese economic minister and ex-chief economist for the Dubai International Financial Centre, was among many experts who foresaw a positive economic impact from the move. In an interview with the Al Arabiya news website, he noted that it would increase by 20% the working hours Saudi businesses overlapped with their counterparts in most other international markets.
“By reducing transaction costs, increasing and standardising market and economic opening times with the rest of the world, it will mean more trade in goods and services and investment,” he said.
Saidi, who is now president of Dubai-based Nasser Saidi & Associates, added that the change could mark the beginning of a larger plan by Saudi Arabia to open its markets more widely to the outside world. Currently its $400bn stock market, the Tadawul, is closed to direct investment by foreigners.
Shoura Council vote
On 23 April, Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council voted 83 to 41 in favour of the change to a Friday/Saturday weekend; but by the next day, it had moved to clarify its decision, which some observers saw as an indication of the political pressures being brought to bear on the officials whose job it would be to change it.
With Saudi moving to a Sunday – Thursday work week, the only two countries still left with a Thursday-to-Friday weekend are Afghanistan and Yemen.
