Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia Adopts Gregorian Calendar Use in Official Dealings

Saudi Arabia has approved using the Gregorian calendar in all official dealings amid growing openness to the outside world.

The approval was made on Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman.

The Council of Ministers agreed to calculate all durations in official procedures and transactions on the basis of the Gregorian calendar.

Exceptions are made to duration linked to Islamic Sharia rulings based on calculations according to the lunar Hijiri calendar or if an explicit text is stipulated for calculating the duration on the basis of the Hijiri calendar.

In 2012, Saudi Arabia banned the government and private agencies from using the Gregorian calendar in official dealings. At the time, all ministries and agencies were obligated to stick to the Hijri dates and the Arabic language.

They were nonetheless allowed to use the Gregorian calendar if the need arose, provided it was associated with the corresponding Hijri date.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has experienced dramatic socio-economic changes. The kingdom is home to a large community of expat workers.

Last May, the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, citing a recent census, put the kingdom’s total population at 32.2 million, with foreigners making up around 13.4 million, or 41.5 percent.

Asian nationals from three countries accounted for over 42 percent of the total foreigners in Saudi Arabia, according to the census figures.

Bangladeshi nationals took the lead with 2.1 million, or around 15.08 percent of the overall expatriates in Saudi Arabia, followed by Indians with 1.88 million and Pakistanis with 1.81 million, a breakdown given by Saudi state TV Al Ekhbariya showed.

Yemenis ranked fourth in expatriate terms with 1.8 million, followed by Egyptians with 1.4 million, Sudanese with 819,000, Filipinos with 725,000, and Syrians with 449,000.

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Gulf News

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