* Payout may total up to 70 billion riyals * 8 pct of original budget plan, or 2.5 pct of GDP * Eco**mic growth this year may be higher than expected * Eco**mic ministers unchanged, suggesting ** big reforms * But new council may provide platform for them eventually By Andrew Torchia DUBAI, Jan 31 (Reuters) - A Lavish payout to public employees ordered by Saudi Arabia's new king Salman will help to sustain the kingdom's consumer boom and reassure financial markets that the government is **t slashing expenditure in the face of low oil prices. On Thursday, Salman ordered the immediate payment of two months of bonus salary to all state employees and pension to retired government workers, in a string of decrees which also reorganised the eco**mic policy-making apparatus. The an**uncement did **t give a monetary figure, but Saudi Arabia's 860 billion riyal ($229 billion) state budget plan for 2015 said salaries, wages and allowances would comprise 50 percent of total spending.
02-01-2015, 03:24 AM
Lavish freebies from Saudi king to buoy eco**my, markets
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