Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s social insurance authorities have said that the retirement age calculation is still based on the Islamic lunar calendar after the government agreed to use the Gregorian calendar in all official dealings.
In response to queries about a potential new mechanism for calculating employees’ retirement age in view of the government decision, the Saudi General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOIS) pointed out that it still sticks to the Islamic Hijri calendar for this matter.
“In case of any amendment, it will be announced via the organisations’ official chnnels,” GOIS said.
The start of months in the Hijri calendar is determined by the sighting of the new crescent, and a Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian.
Earlier this week, the Saudi Council of Ministers approved using the Gregorian calendar in calculating duration in all official dealings amid growing openness to the outside world.
The approval was made at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Saudi Crown and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
By virtue of the decree, all duration in official procedures and transactions will be based on the Gregorian calendar.
Exceptions are made to duration linked to the Islamic Sharia rulings based on calculations according to the Hijri calendar, or if an explicit text is stipulated of calculating the duration on the basis of the Hijri calendar.
In 2012, Saudi Arabia banned the government and private agencies from using the Gregorian calendar in official dealings. At the time, all ministries and agencies were obligated to stick to the Hijri dates and the Arabic language.
They were, nonetheless, allowed to use the Gregorian calendar, if the need arose, provided it was associated with the corresponding Hijri date.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has seen dramatic socio-economic changes.
The kingdom is home to a large community of migrant workers.
