SABIC, Saudi Aramco grants staff two-month salary bonus

State oil giant Saudi Aramco

and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC)

said on Saturday they would grant employees a two-month salary

bonus in line with benefits announced by King Abdullah.

Khalid al-Falih, Aramco's CEO, was quoted as saying in a

statement that the bonus would include employees and trainees.

King Abdullah offered $93 billion in handouts on Friday and

boosted his security and religious police forces, opting for a

mixture of carrot and stick to stave off unrest rocking the Arab

world.

"In response to this generous approach and based on its

social responsibilities, SABIC decided to grant its employees

inside the kingdom a basic salary bonus of two months," SABIC

said in an emailed statement.

SABIC, the world's largest petrochemicals company by market

value, is 70-percent by the Saudi government and Aramco is the

major contributor to the Saudi wealth.

In 2010, oil accounted for about 85 percent of the budgetary

revenue of world's largest oil exporter and around 31 percent of

its gross domestic product.