Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest OFW populations in the world is where most of our fellow Kabayan try their luck and where they strive hard for fortune. Before you decide to take any job in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, you might want to know how much an ordinary worker earns and how they live each day based on their earnings.
1 Saudi Riyal = 12.33 Philippine Pesos
When you start living away from your family, you need to consider your own expenses in order to save money and meet needs. We came across a fellow Pinoy who was willing to share some details of her expenses. Let’s call her Neri.
Neri works as a Staff Nurse in a private hospital and earns 3000 SAR (Saudi Riyal) or about 36,400 Php. Below, she illustrated how she budgets her salary on a monthly basis
Net Monthly Salary: 3000 SAR = 36,400 PHP
How much is the cost of living as an expat in Saudi Arabia?
Breakdown of Cost of Living Expenses
a. Accommodation – FREE
Most of Expat package here in the kingdom are provided with free accommodation. Depending on your line of job and your rank, they provide apartment or room accommodation.
b. Transportation – 50 SAR
My transportation is provided by the company. But when I got out during my break time, I usually go on a public transport and spend 50SR on a monthly basis. The workplace is close to my accommodation anyway.
c. Groceries / Food Allowance – 300 SAR
My company provides FREE meals for us, but when I’m at home, I often spend 300-500 SAR for food. I still cook my own food sometimes.
d. Remittances – 1500 SAR
I send almost 1500 monthly to help my family back home.
e. Leisure – 100 SAR
Around 100 SAR for lunches or Dinner with friends some times, but this seldom happens.
f. Savings – 1000 SAR
I make sure to save 1000SR monthly. This is the money that I use whenever I have plans of vacations, buying some investments or at least to be used for emergency purposes.
—————————–
Most of the time we pay on cash basis, you can also use other payment modes but its still common in KSA to use cash in all transactions.
Neri adds that no matter how huge the salary you get from your job, it will always depend on how you manage your finances. When you are away from your family, it is always wiser to save as much as you can so it can be used for your future retirement.
This is just an estimate of the cost of living in Saudi Arabia to give you an idea of the monthly expenses that expats have in this country. We hope you can use this as a guide to help you understand better the sacrifice that our families make in order to send money home while living in minimum conditions abroad.
Make sure to manage your finances very well so you won’t get any financial trouble.
Hi neri, good to see your saving plans….
but u missed on an other major expense which comes to the mobile bills which is somewhere close to 100sar for internet and 30-50 sar for call purpose. And also since u dont smoke I guess there is another 150-250 sar which u save