Saudi Arabia pledges to reduce dependence on foreign labour

Saudi Economy and Planning Minister Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri has said that one of his ministry’s priorities is to “reduce dependence on expatriate workers”.

“Our young men and women are capable if implementing the programmes and projects of Vision 2030,” Al-Tuwaijri said in an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Al- Arabiya yesterday.

According to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics the number of foreign workers in the public and private sectors reached about 10.69 million in the third quarter of 2017, compared to 10.79 million in the second quarter of the same year.

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Saudi Arabia has intensified efforts to localise many economic sectors mainly insurance, communications and transport as unemployment rates in the Kingdom reached 12.8 per cent.

Remarking on the unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia, the minister said “the kingdom is seeking to reduce it over the next few years to 7 per cent as nearly a quarter of a million Saudi graduates enter the labour market annually”.

The minister also remarked on the Saudi Monetary Authority estimates that economic growth would reach 1.6 per cent in 2018 saying “we have a deeper assessment, our numbers are always more optimistic than the authority’s figures”.

“Our goal is to maintain growth rate between 2.5-3 per cent” he added.