Jeddah-based Saudi analyst Turad al-Amri welcomed what he called "a nice gesture" from the king, saying the measures were not unprecedented or prompted by Arab protests elsewhere.
But other Saudis were critical. "We want rights, not gifts," said Fahad Aldhafeeri in one typical message on Twitter.
"They are under pressure. They have to do something. We know Saudi Arabia is surrounded by revolutions of various types, and not just in poor countries, but in some such as Libya which are rich," said Mai Yamani, at London's Chatham House think tank. "Basically what the king is doing is good, but it's an old message of using oil money to buy the silence, subservience and submission of the people," she said. "The new generation of revolution is surrounding them from everywhere."
Mahmoud Sabbagh, 28, said he and 45 other young Saudi activists had sent the king a petition advocating more profound change, not just economic handouts. He listed the group's demands as "national reform, constitutional reform, national dialogue, elections and female participation."
Saudi Arabia holds more than $400 billion in net foreign assets, but faces social pressures such as housing shortages and high youth unemployment in a fast-growing population.
"Housing and job creation for Saudis are two structural challenges this country is facing," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi, who put the total value of the king's measures at 140 billion riyals ($37 billion).
He said some benefits were one-off and others were already budgeted. "The inflationary impact will not be significant."
G20 member Saudi Arabia has outlined spending of 580 billion riyals for 2011 in its third consecutive record budget.
Investment bank EFG-Hermes put the king's benefit package at 100 billion riyals, saying it could rally a stock market that lost 4 percent in the past week on unrest in Bahrain and elsewhere.
Ahmad al-Omran, who runs the popular Saudi Jeans blog, said on Twitter that the measures would benefit many people, but were equivalent to fighting the symptoms and ignoring the disease.
"People don't revolt because they are hungry. People revolt because they want their dignity, because they want to govern themselves. Money won't solve our issues. We need true political and social reform. We need freedom, justice and dignity."
(Additional reporting by Asma al-Sharif in Jeddah, writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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