The Saudi Ministry of Civil Service explained that the cost of living allowance is fully paid to the employees, who work inside the Kingdom and have employment relationship with the governmental bodies, whether legal or contractual, with their salary of the first month of the state budget. The ministry added, in response to queries received in this regard, that the cost of living allowance is suspended for the employee during the scholarship to study abroad, and in the cases where the entire salary is stopped. Notably, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz had issued a royal decree to pay a one-month cost of living allowance of about 1,000 riyals ($266.6) for citizens working in civil and military sectors for one year starting from the beginning of this year. Meanwhile, a number of private sector companies in Saudi Arabia also paid their employees a cost of living allowance, in a gesture praised by the Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development.