Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said it would reimburse contractors for increased expatriate worker fees in government projects approved before December 2016, as the labour-intensive construction industry reels from an economic slowdown.
The oil-rich kingdom has long relied on foreign labour for jobs such as construction, but a recent hike in expat levies and fees for dependents has triggered an exodus of foreign workers from the once tax-free haven. "After reviewing the imposition of monthly fees on expatriate labour... the cabinet orders the finance ministry... to compensate enterprises which entered into government contracts before December 2016," the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
Expat workers make up a third of the Saudi population, but they are increasingly being replaced by Saudis in jobs in sales and services as part of a major retooling of the kingdom's lagging oil economy.
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