RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Less than a week after ascending the throne, King Salman of Saudi Arabia issued an array of royal decrees on Thursday — abolishing government bodies, changing ministers, dismissing the chief of intelligence and further consolidating his own authority.
And despite concern that the steep decline in oil prices would restrict the finances of the country, the world’s largest oil exporter, the king also decreed a cash bonus worth two months’ salary to government employees, students and pensioners, a gesture aimed at garnering good will among the citizenry.
The swift and momentous changes in some of the country’s most powerful posts suggested that King Salman was reformatting the domestic power structure to give himself more control.
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“At a time when you think it’d be, ‘We have to tighten our belts some,’ it is ‘Here is a big present,’ ” Professor Gause said.
A version of this article appears in print on January 30, 2015, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Saudi King Hands Out Pink Slips And Bonuses. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
