Al-Yaum

The International Fund for Agricultural Development’s latest reports showed that the world’s expatriate workers transferred around half a trillion dollars to their families back home in 2016. Total remittances are expected to be more in 2017, and to be 50 percent up compared to the previous decade.

Immigrants add value to the country’s economy where they work. They are not enemies or adversaries. If we look at global reports, we see that most countries benefit from the expatriates living and working in them. These reports show that the remittances from the US accounted for $117 billion, followed by Europe at $115 billion and the Gulf Region at $110 billion. However, the total income of expatriate workers or immigrants is estimated to be $3 trillion a year. Around 85 percent of the income stays in the countries where the immigrants live and is not sent abroad, meaning the money the expatriate workers send abroad accounts for less than one percent of the gross domestic product of the countries they live in.

In fact, when I read the reports, I was shocked by the figures that prove that immigrants in these countries work hard to benefit the economies of the countries where they work. This is what we need to do for our economy and need to see happening in our country. We have one of the world’s top 20 competitive economies. We need to see this happening but not at the expense of citizens or Saudization. The private sector can accommodate expatriate workers and Saudis alike.

Expatriate workers should not be viewed negatively. They are part of the economy. We should benefit from them in a way that contributes to the growth of investments. Our market laws are neutral and do not differentiate on the basis of nationality; on the contrary, they give priority to producers regardless of their nationality. The efforts for development need to be doubled. Saudis should work harder to benefit from the private sector. To put it simply, if we want to keep the savings of expatriate workers in our economic cycle, we should encourage Saudi youth to be more competitive. They should learn that time is of the essence and should go with the current.