By Abdulrahman Al-Misbahi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has directed all banks and money transfer centers to reopen in compliance with Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr’s working hours, while underlining the importance of social distancing in the workplace in preventing the spread of coronavirus.

The move is in response to the directives of the government to partially lift the Kingdom-wide curfew (except in Makkah), allowing the resumption of certain economic activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a two-week period beginning on April 29 until May 13, 2020.

Meanwhile, some local banks have started reopening some of their branches from Tuesday following the partial lifting of the curfew in all regions of the Kingdom, except Makkah city and the districts previously announced under a complete lockdown.

As per the SAMA directive, mandatory social distancing needs to be followed in the workplace whether between one employee and the other or between employees and clients, or between one client and the other. This is also applicable to money transfer centers, as well.

Recently a number of banks have announced that all their branches would be operational soon except for a few branches that are situated in the total lockdown zones in Makkah city. Meanwhile, some banks have increased the number of functioning branches.