‘Hafiz allowance helped in Makkah sales boost’

MAKKAH: The decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to pay a monthly allowance of SR2,000 to unemployed Saudi men and women for a year has created an economic boom in Makkah unusual in the holy city at this time of year when there are no foreign Umrah pilgrims or visitors.

Many beneficiaries consider the financial allowance a cushion to lean on until they are employed either by the government or the private sector.

Arab News asked a number of young men and women what this subsidy meant to them, if it was enough to get them through a whole month and what jobs they were looking for whether in the public or private sectors.

Bandar Al-araifi, one of the recipients of the Hafiz allowance, expressed appreciation for the royal gesture and said he was looking forward to getting a job in line with his university certificates. "I sweated to obtain this qualification," he said.

Al-araifi said though the allowance could enable him to meet some of his basic needs, he was not totally dependent on it. “I am doing my own private business which is providing me with an additional income to sustain my family of five siblings in addition to my mother,” he said. He hoped the job he would get in the future would satisfy his aspirations and ambitions.

Sanaa Arif, a graduate from the faculty of arts of Umm Al-qura University in Makkah, said she was extremely exulted by the allowance that enabled her to pay the costs of the English courses she was taking at a language teaching institute.

She said she graduated about two years ago but was not sitting at home twiddling her thumbs while waiting to be appointed as a teacher in one of the government girl schools. “I started working to gain more skills. I joined a computertraining center and obtained an international certificate in computer sciences. I am now studying English and hope to perfect the language soon,” she said.

Arif hoped her new skills in addition to her university degree would qualify her for a feasible job in the private sector. “This allowance came to me as a good Samaritan. It will help me continue my preparations for the future,” she said.

Sheikh Salem bin Nuwair Al-matrafi, a businessman and economic expert, said the allowance created a financial buffer for the jobseekers. "The allowance will enable these unemployed Saudis to sustain themselves until they are employed. The government is doing its best to find jobs for unemployed Saudi men and women," he said.

Al-matrafi said the particular age group targeted by Hafiz was those most in need of employment according to statistics of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. “The Kingdom is the second Arab country after Iraq that has the largest number of unemployed young men and women,” he added.

Al-matrafi pointed out the local market was in need of mega productive projects, investments to promote human resources, enhancement of small and medium enterprises and a focus on the service sector and industries to create more jobs. He called for preventing foreigners from working in the retail business, which is generating tens of billions of Saudi riyals and do not require special vocational skills. “The large number of foreigners working in this sector has weakened employment opportunities for the Saudi citizens,” he said.

Makkah markets have geared up to take advantage of the new purchasing power offered by Saudi women who have had their bank accounts revitalized because of the Hafiz allowance. Market sources predict sales to go up by at least 20 percent in the coming days.

They said the largest beneficiaries of the allowance were the shops selling women’s wear, accessories and make up.

They said business was slow due to school midyear examinations when parents prefer to sit at home and help their children with studies instead of going out for shopping. But the market picked up with the school midyear vacation.

“The Haifz allowance came as a savior to us. We usually do not have Umrah pilgrims or visitors, who represent the backbone of our buyers this time of the year,” said Ahmed Midaini, a shop owner.