From SUSRIS, an excellent roundup of opinion and analysis on Saudi Arabia’s recent weekend shift and the implications for business and aspects of Saudi Arabia’s society.
“There’s hardly anyone who likes to wait for the weekend to get here quickly but in the case of Saudi Arabia many have been waiting for years to see a change in where those magical days fall on the calendar. Now there’s a new weekend in the Kingdom as a royal decree has taken effect to shift the Thursday-Friday weekend one day to Friday-Saturday. King Abdullah, taking up recommendations of the Shoura Council and the Council of Ministers, made the move in an effort to synchronize the work week with other Gulf Cooperation Council member states and to add one more day per week where Saudi Arabia and the global commercial community shared common business days.”