Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council has denied reports it has approved moving the weekend forward one day to Friday-Saturday.
It was reported on Monday that the kingdom would follow in the footsteps of all other GCC countries and change its weekend from Thursday-Friday.
However, the council has since clarified its decision. It will only review a study by the Ministry of Civil Service (MCS) that recommended changing the weekend to bring the kingdom into line with the GCC and closer to the same weekend as the rest of the world, which is generally Saturday-Sunday.
“To review the study does not mean that it has been approved by the council,” Shoura Council vice chairman Fahd Al-Hammad told Arab News.
“[The] MCS study takes into consideration various social and religious aspects. The study was conducted after a number of parties called for a change of the weekend sequence.
Many in the kingdom are calling for the change, particularly those in business because presently Saudi Arabia is only able to interact with majority of the world on three days per week.
Saudi economist Ahmad Al-Humaidi said that cost the country “huge losses” last year.
Oman was the most recent country to move to a Friday-Saturday weekend, in March.
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