Saudi King Unleashes a Torrent of Money as Bonuses Flow to the Masses

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — European leaders are still battling over austerity. The United States Congress is gearing up for another fight over the budget. But in Saudi Arabia, there are no such troubles when you are king — and you just dole out billions and billions of dollars to ordinary Saudis by royal decree.

Not surprisingly, Saudis are very happy with their new monarch, King Salman.

“It is party time for Saudi Arabia right now,” said John Sfakianakis, the Riyadh-based Middle East director of the Ashmore Group, an investment company, who estimates that the king’s post-coronation giveaway will ultimately cost more than $32 billion.

That is a lot of cash, more, for example, than the entire annual budget for Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest economy.

Since King Salman ascended the throne of this wealthy Arab kingdom last month, he has swiftly taken charge, abolishing government bodies and firing ministers. But no measure has caused as much buzz here as the giant payouts he ordered to a large chunk of the Saudi population.

These included grants to professional associations, literary and sports clubs; investments in water and electricity; and bonuses worth two months of salary to all government employees, soldiers, pensioners and students on government stipends at home and abroad. Some private companies followed suit with comparable bonuses for their Saudi employees, putting another few billion dollars into people’s pockets.

Downtown stood some of the village’s main employers: the local office of the prince of Qassim Province; the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which monitors public morals; and a towering new fire station with shiny new engines.

“The government treats us very well here,” said Abdullah al-Sahli, the head of the local government office, who said he had distributed his bonus to his wife and children.

His son Moteb, 6, said he already had two iPads, so he spent the money on a new toy Jeep.

“We have nothing to complain about,” Mr. Sahli said.

A version of this article appears in print on February 20, 2015, on page A10 of the New York edition. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

The New York Times