1.2m expats to leave Saudi in 2020, report says

Some 1.2 million foreign workers will leave Saudi Arabia this year due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country, a report from the Jadwa Investment company has revealed.

According to the publication, nearly 178,000 expatriates have submitted requests to the Saudi Ministry of Interior to leave the kingdom between 22 April and 3 June, while more than 323,000 expatriates have already left this year.

The report expected the hospitality, restaurant, food services, administrative and support activities including building services, travel agencies, rent, leasing and security sectors to witness the largest number of expat departures.

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The least affected sectors are agriculture, education, health, financial services and information technology.

As many as ten million expatriates, mostly from Asia and other parts of the Arab world, live in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom has recorded 136,315 cases of coronavirus including 1,052 deaths.