Remittances by Egyptian, Syrian expats drop in KSA

The political turmoil in Egypt and Syria has caused a reduction in the number of remittances from their citizens in the Kingdom as they fear for the economic future in their countries.

According to economic experts, Egyptian residents remit around SR3 billion from Saudi Arabia annually. However, since the revolution in their country the remittances have dropped by about a third.

“Around 5 percent of Egyptian residents in the Kingdom have stopped sending their money home due to the political ambiguity currently prevailing in the country,” economic expert Taha Kosbah told Arab News.

“They would prefer to wait until stability returns to Egypt.”

Egyptian residents in the Kingdom transfer around SR2 billion annually to support their families back home.

Kosbah said Egypt’s economy suffered when around 70 percent of Egyptian workers from Libya returned to the country.

“They had transferred annually about $100 million to Egypt,” Kosbah added.

Syrian residents in the Kingdom usually transfer annually around SR1 billion home, said Farooq Al-Khateeb, a senior economy professor at King Abdulaziz University. However, the political turmoil in Syria has reduced these remittances by 20 percent.

He predicted that there will be many Syrian residents in the Kingdom investing their money in Saudi Arabia instead of back home.

“Syrian residents will be involved in local business projects in partnership with Saudi businessmen. The Syrians have currently local investments estimated at SR900 million,” he added.

There are 900,000 and 100,000 Egyptians and Syrians in Saudi Arabia respectively.

The majority of them work in major companies in the Kingdom as engineers, project managers, accountants and doctors.