The Ministry of Labor and Social Development will launch in February a program to help low- and middle-income families, a source was quoted as saying by Al-Madinah newspaper on Sunday. The program, termed "Hisab Al-Muwatin," facilitates payment to social insurance recipients. The source said that the families in need of social insurance funds constitute 12 percent of Saudi society. There are 830,000 such families and 2.5 million individuals. These families will be automatically registered in the program. They do not have to visit the ministry's office to register in the program. The source said the program divides social insurance recipients into five categories. The first category includes people with a maximum monthly income of SR8,699. The second category includes people with a monthly income between SR8,700 and SR11,999. The third category includes people with a monthly income between SR12,000 and SR15,299. The fourth category includes people with a monthly income of SR15,300 and SR20,159. The fifth category people with a monthly income of SR20,160 will not receive financial support. The source said that no decision has been issued yet detailing the amount of financial support the families will receive. The program encourages families to be conscious of their consumption of water and electricity. On Thursday, Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan announced the launch of the 2020 fiscal balance program and the Citizen's Account initiative.
