Riyadh will return all allowances, bonuses and financial benefits to civil servants and military personnel that had their salaries and benefits cut last year.

The payments will be backdated to September last year when the austerity measures were introduced. Riyadh reversed the pay cuts in April.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud issued a decree reversing the cuts on 21 June after a series of other decrees, which most notably included the promotion of his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman to crown prince.

The reversal in salary and benefit cuts along with another decree that extended the Eid al-Fitr holiday by one week are likely to be well received by the Saudi population which has started to show the strain of the austerity measured introduced last year.

Both measures are likely to increase consumer spending in the kingdom.