Saudi response to COVID-19 outbreak bold and swift, says Jarir chairman

Saudi Arabia’s efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the business activities were implemented boldly and immediately across all levels, said Muhammed Alagil, chairman of Jarir Marketing Co., on the sidelines of the 5th Annual Financial Stability Conference.

The Kingdom’s measures helped employees maintain their jobs, and also safeguarded the economic activities as well as supply chains, Alagil added.

SANED program, which stipulates that employees can be paid 60% of their salaries and can take unpaid leave, saved SAR 15 million for the company, Alagil said.

Also, the Saudi Central Bank’s (SAMA) deferred payments program and the decision to extend it for three additional months saved the company SAR 8.5 million.

Additionally, Jarir managed to retain SAR 300,000 of the cost of borrowing, due to delaying the payment of SAR 62 million, thanks to the General Authority of Zakat and Tax (GAZT) extension of tax amnesty on corporate income tax, withholding tax, value added tax (VAT) and Zakat.

Alagil also indicated that the company benefitted from the extension of residence permits and visitors visas and the discounted electricity bills.