Saudi Arabia Changes Weekend to Friday/Saturday from 29 June 2013

On June 23, 2013, H.M. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued Royal Order No. O/185 changing the Saudi Arabian weekend from the current Thursday - Friday to Friday -Saturday.

This change brings the Kingdom's working week in line with that of the other member states of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC).

The change applies as follows:

1.) Effective Saturday June 29, 2013, the new Friday / Saturday weekend will apply to all Saudi Arabian Ministries, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and all financial institutions, as well as the Capital Markets Authority and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul);

2.) Effective for the 2013-14 Academic Year, the new Friday / Saturday weekend will apply to all academic institutions including schools and universities.

The Saudi Press Agency said, "The decision was  taken due to the crucial importance to achieve the largest homogeneity of weekly working days between agencies, governmental departments, national institutions, and their counterparts at the regional and international levels, and also due to the obvious interests and significant gains for the Kingdom, particularly in the economic aspects. It was also taken for putting an end to the negative effects and lost economic opportunities consistently associated with variation based on some working days between those agencies, institutions and national bodies and their international and regional counterparts."