King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud approved the plan on Thursday in an attempt to get the economy back on track after a drop in oil prices.

The package, part of the country’s Vision 2030 economic-transformation plan, contains 17 separate initiatives to create both direct and indirect jobs.

It includes residential housing loans, a fund to support economic projects and distressed companies, the government said.

The programme aims to strengthen “competitive capabilities of a number of segments of the national economy”, the Saudi Press Agency said.

In October the government announced a $500bn plan for a new business and industrial city stretching across its borders into Jordan and Egypt.