Islamic Affairs pays SR84m in rents for offices abroad

RIYADH — The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance pays annual rents of SR84.5 million for 21 of its 25 offices in 19 countries, including Arab states, Makkah daily reported quoting the ministry's latest annual report. According to the report, a total of 120 employees work in these offices as preachers, religious guides and administrators. The ministry's office in Australia, with an annual rent of SR60.5 million, is the most expensive of all offices and consumes about two thirds of the entire rent paid by the ministry. The office in Djibouti is the cheapest with an annual rent of SR19,600,followed by Sudan with SR76,000. The report said the ministry's office in Chad is the second most expensive with an annual rent of SR18.6 million. It said the Chad office is 10 times the total rents of the ministry's five offices in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, which together cost about SR1.8 million. The ministry pays SR290,000 for its office in India, SR95,000 in Bangladesh, SR83,000 in Thailand, SR283,000 in Malaysia, SR945,000 in Indonesia, SR74,000 in Pakistan, SR113,000 in Nigeria, SR499,000 in Britain, SR211,000 in Senegal, SR354,000 in South Africa and SR247,000 in Canada.