Economic crunch forces Saudi to dump Islamic calendar

The government of Saudi Arabia has been forced to do away with the Islamic Hajiri calendar opting for Gregorian calendar which will now make the working month much longer in a bid to save cash due to economic crunch.

The decision now brings civil service pay in line with the government’s January-December fiscal year, and it’s a change, approved by cabinet last week to coincide with the Islamic New Year.

“Saudi ministries and government agencies began working with the Gregorian calendar on Saturday,” The New Arab’s Saudi Arabia correspondent, Khaled al-Shayea, reported.

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“Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world that used the Hijri calendar in all government affairs. From this month forward civil servants will be paid on the 25th of each month.”

Saudi Arabia was hit with a record deficit last year on oil sales after global prices collapsed by more than half since 2013 forcing the government to jettison the Hijri calendar which consists of 12 months of 29 or 30 days depending on the sighting of the moon, meaning the Islamic year is several days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, which is widely used in the world.

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