Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The total deposits in the Citizen’s Account Program since its inception until the 45th installment for the current month of August amounted to more than SR100 billion. These payments have been disbursed for beneficiaries whose applications were completed, while the total compensation for the previous payments amounted to more than SR833 million until this payment.

Sultan Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the program, said that the average support for each beneficiary family is more than SR989 and the average support for an independent individual has reached SR394 over the past years.

According to Al-Qahtani, the amount of the August payment accounted for more than SR1.9 billion, while the compensation amounted to about SR10.5 million.

“About 77 percent of the beneficiaries received support in the August payment, and the number of the beneficiary heads of families reached more than two million, making up 93 percent, while the number of beneficiary dependents reached more than 8.3 million.

“The number of independents who met the eligibility criteria reached more than 164,000 beneficiaries, constituting seven percent of the total main beneficiaries,” he added.

The Citizen’s Account Program is one of the social protection programs, launched by Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development in December 2017 and this national scheme aims to provide social protection for Saudi families from the expected direct and indirect impact of various economic reforms taking place in the Kingdom.

This e-service allows the users to register in the program and receive the support through monthly cash transfers into their accounts. The head of the family can create his/her account in the e-portal and fill in the required information and attach the required documents.

The program re-directs government benefits to deserving groups in a way that promotes rational consumption, and ensures that subsidies are effectively directed to deserving groups, as government support will be provided in a form of cash transferred directly to eligible beneficiaries.