JEDDAH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has ordered the extension of several government initiatives to support the private sector and investors in mitigating the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

The extended initiatives include:

— Supporting Saudi employees in private sector enterprises affected by impact of Coronavirus through unemployment insurance (SANED).

— Suspending fines related to recruitment.

— Lifting the temporary suspension of private sector facilities to correct activity status.

— Calculating the employment of Saudis in Nitaqat Program immediately for all enterprises.

— Lifting the suspension of wages protection during the pandemic.

— The continuity of providing services for elite enterprises around the clock.

— Postponing the collection of customs duties on imports for a period of thirty days against the submission of a bank guarantee.

— Accepting installment requests without applying the condition of advance payment.

— Postponing the payment of value-added tax.

— Accelerating payment of VAT refund requests.

— Partial exemption from the financial compensation for the expiring visas of residence and extending the period of using exit and re-entry visas for one month, with an additional month if needed.

— Enabling business owners, for a period of two months, to postpone the payment of value-added tax, excise tax, income tax, and the submission of Zakat declarations during coronavirus pandemic.

The government has so far taken 142 initiatives to support individuals, private sector enterprises and investors since the outbreak of the pandemic worth SR214 billion ($57 billion).

The government has also formed a number of ministerial committees with continuous follow-up from Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense as these committees aim to study the impact of the coronavirus crisis and its challenges, in a number of sectors and regions to address them, either with support or the extension of initiatives or others.

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