Small and medium enterprises (SME) managed by Bangladeshi nationals are going to suffer as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) government has imposed a heavy levy on at least 340,000 SMEs.
A good number of these SMEs are managed by Bangladeshi nationals, according to Dhaka Tribune sources in KSA. Those expatriates may fall victim to the levy being imposed. In last 10 years, the percentage of expatriates working in such firms has risen from 48% to 62%, reported Arab News thursday.
“Raising the cost of employing expats is one of a series of measures adopted by the ministry to fight unemployment,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Shamsan, director of Information Center of the Labour Ministry. He also said the government would continue to impose the expat levy in order to encourage private firms to employ more Saudis and decrease the number of foreign workers. The levy was imposed after holding a series of discussions between ministry officials and businessmen, he added.
The cabinet has decided to impose SR2,400 expat levy on firms that employ more foreigners than Saudis. “There are 341,000 SMEs [with nine workers or less in each] managed by expatriates. They have not employed a single Saudi. This represents 35% of the SMEs running in the country,” he said.
