DOHA
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the first Saudimonarch to own a Twitter account, has praised his people through the social media outlet after he decreed a massive $30 billion in government expenditure on bonuses and services.
"Dear people: You deserve more and whatever I do I would not be able to give you what you deserve," the newly-inaugurated monarch said on Twitter late Thursday.
The statement came hours after Salman issued a bundle of royal decrees, including one of the largest cabinet reshuffles in the oil-rich monarchy's history as well as prisoner pardons.
The king also signed off 110 billion riyals ($30 billion) for government spending on exceptional bonuses for civil servants and projects for developing public services.
Salman's Twitter post was retweeted over 250,000 times within hours of its broadcasting, signaling considerable response from Saudi Twitter users.
Salman, the former crown prince, became the new monarch after the death of his half-brother King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz a week ago.
The new monarch had maintained a Twitter account since 2013, with around a million followers. However, he gained over 860,000 new followers within one week of his inauguration.
On Thursday night, King Salman ordered a major cabinet reshuffle in which he sacked eight ministers appointed by his predecessor some six weeks ago and maintained those in critical cabinet profiles such as oil and finance.
The king also re-appointed Prince Khalid Al Faisal as the governor of Mecca emirate after relieving Prince Meshaal, a son of King Abdullah, from the position.
Salman also sacked Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz, another son of the deceased monarch, from his position as governor of capital Riyadh and appointed Prince Faisal bin Bandar for the position.
King Salman had sacked intelligence chief Prince Khalid bin Bandar and appointed him as an advisor to the royal court. He also assigned Khalid bin Al Humeidan as the new chief of intelligence.
The new monarch had earlier appointed his son Prince Mohamed bin Salman as defense minister, a position which his father filled until he was declared the new monarch.
King Salman had also appointed his other son Prince Mohammad as the chief of staff of the royal court and a special advisor to the monarchy.
Salman, 79, took over the world's largest crude oil exporters last Friday following the death of King Abdullah at the age of 90.
He is the seventh King of Saudi Arabia.
