King Salman approves SAR11.5 bln package to ease expat fee costs

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has approved the collective bill initiative, allocating SAR 11.5 billion for reimbursements of expat fees to businesses, as part of the private sector stimulus program, Labour Minister Ahmed Al-Rajhi said on his Twitter account on Friday.​

"This initiative will support private sector companies and will help them overcome the obstacles and achieve their goals, as well as encourage them to expand employment of Saudi citizens," he said.

According to data compiled by Argaam, the scheme aims to reimburse some of the companies who struggled to pay fees on expatriate work permits.

The total of SAR 11.5 billion was allocated for reimbursements under the decision, Al-Madina newspaper reported.

Directives were issued to form a ministerial team, chaired by the labor minister, to implement the collective bill initiative, the report said.

Members of the team are representatives of the ministry of finance, the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises (Monsha’at), and Local Content and Private Sector Development Unit (Namaa), it added.