Saudi Arabia Triples VAT, Cuts State Allowances Amid Crisis (2)

Saudi Arabia announced a slew of austerity measures to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and an oil-price rout, tripling its value-added tax and cutting a cost-of-living allowance for government workers.

The steps taken to shore up revenue and rationalize spending are valued at about 100 billion riyals ($26.6 billion) in total, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. Overall spending for 2020 will remain close to what was planned as money saved gets re-allocated to health care and aid for businesses, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in a telephone interview on Monday. Saudi shares fell the most ...