DUBAI- Saudi Arabia ordered the resumption of annual bonus payments to all state employees from the start of 2019, Civil Service Minister Sulaiman Al-Hamdan told Al Arabiya TV on Monday.

Riyadh, squeezed by low oil prices, removed the perk - equivalent to a month's salary - in September 2016. It restored the payment to some civil servants in April 2017.

(Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; editing by John Stonestreet) ((aziz.elyaakoubi@thomsonreuters.com; +971552994086; Reuters Messaging: aziz.elyaakoubi.reuters.com@reuters.net))