Saudi Arabia committed to reforms, no plan to revise expat fees: Al-Jadaan

Saudi Arabia is committed to the implementation of economic reforms, finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said, adding that such reforms are not linked to oil prices.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Al-Jadaan said the government’s fiscal overhaul has no link to the movement of crude oil prices.

Commenting on potential plans to scrap expatriate fees, he said the government had no plans whatsoever to revise expat fees imposed as of January 2018 on Saudi businesses hiring foreign workers.

“There are no plans to revise any of the reforms that we have implemented. These have been modeled for an extended period of time. We knew what the impact is going to be,” Al-Jadaan said.

Meanwhile, Al-Jadaan said many opportunities are being created for US firms, as senior Saudi officials are touring the US to drum up business and will visit investment banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, Citigroup and Bank of America.

Riyadh is also planning a dollar-denominated bond sale in the next few weeks, but the sale size has yet to be determined, he said.

Banks have been "almost hired" for the offering and the Kingdom is considering maturities of five years, seven years, ten years, 12 years and 30 years or longer. It is also looking at other currency options but sticking to dollar-denominated securities for now, he added.