Saudi Arabia's government has made payments of SAR40bn (USD10.7bn) that it owed to private construction firms in the past two weeks, representing 25% of money owed to them by various government agencies, according to Fahad al-Hammadi, chief of the National Contractors’ Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers. In recent weeks, top officials have indicated that all or most of the delayed payments would soon be made. The government is expected to pay up to 80% of the total dues to contractors during the remaining few weeks of this year by disbursing another SAR100bn,” Al- Hammadi said. On 11 November, the government said that it has allocated SAR100bn to pay debts that it owed to private sector firms, without disclosing the total size of the unpaid bills. (Reuters)