A session of Shoura council. (SPA)

The Shoura Council passed on Tuesday a draft law for the collection and distribution of donations inside the Kingdom in its bid to prevent charitable funds from reaching terrorist organizations.

“The new law, with 15 articles, explains the conditions for organizations that will be licensed to collect donations,” said Fahaad Al-Hamad, assistant president of the consultative body.

He said the committee for social, family and youth affairs prepared the law after incorporating opinions of Shoura members.

“This law reflects the Kingdom’s desire to reach the money collected by the charitable organizations to deserving people, instead of ending up in the hands of terrorist groups,” Al-Hamad said.

The law was passed a day after the Council of Ministers urged international efforts to drug up intellectual and financial resources for terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).

The Shoura meeting also discussed the Pension Fund’s annual report, Al-Hamad said. During discussions, a female member suggested that the monthly pension should take into consideration the country’s inflation rate. She also urged the fund to cooperate with the private sector to get discounted rates for retirees. Another female member insisted that the fund’s board of directors should include a woman.

There was another proposal to increase the early retirement age from 20 to 22 to cope with the plan to increase the official retirement age from 60 to 62.

Al-Hamad said a female member proposed a merger between the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) and Pension Fund to strengthen their financial situation, and many members supported the idea.

The meeting discussed the annual report issued by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) and called for providing financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism sector.

 
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