working hours for Saudi government staff on Ramadan

The Ministry of Civil Service has announced reduced Ramadan working hours for government employees, adding that offices would only be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

It said the Eid vacation will be 10 days starting from Ramadan 25 (Aug. 25) and government employees and students will resume work and studies on Shawwal 6 (Sept. 4).

The Ministry of Labor announced the working hours for the private sector will be six hours during the daytime. Some private establishments also have evening shifts in Ramadan, which this year falls in the height of summer.

Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, quoted an environmental expert as saying that Ramadan will coincide with the summer months for the next nine years.

Ramadan arrives 11 days earlier each Gregorian year and so after nine years it will fall in spring.

A source at the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment Protection expected temperatures to reach 50 degrees Celsius in a number of regions during the fasting month. He said the hottest spots would be the central, eastern and western regions.