National Assembly Panel Warns Ramifications For Sudden Reduction Of Expats

A sudden reduction of large numbers of expats could have a serious negative impact on the domestic economy, warns the National Assembly’s human resources panel that was entrusted with studying ways to significantly reduce the number of expats in the country via a study.

According to the panel, a sharp reduction will have the effect of diminishing the market’s purchasing power, considerably impact the real estate market, as the majority of apartments are occupied by expats, which will be left vacant, lower the availability of labor in the market, particularly as the private sector strongly depends on foreign workers, and finally hit the private education market, where expats are required in certain specialties. There is presently a looming crisis in terms of the shortage of teachers in some scientific specializations.

On the other hand, real estate sources are expecting the prices of investment housing properties to decrease by 20% to 35%, and a possible drop in occupancy rates to about 50% in some areas due to the inevitable emigration of a large number of expats and the reduction of salaries.

A number of proposals were submitted by lawmakers for the committee to study for implementation. One such study filed by the government to substantially cut the number of expats outlines a government plan to set a certain ceiling for expats with the option to be either equal to the population of Kuwaitis or just half their numbers, and also recommended that the percentages or quotas should not be decided at present to provide authorities with flexibility to deal with the issue.

The government’s proposal aims to cut as many as 360,000 expats almost immediately, most of them illegals and senior expats above 60 years of age. According to the latest figures, the number of expats are 3.35 million against 1.45 million Kuwaiti citizens. However, all the population structure proposals exclude as many as 750,000 domestic helpers from any solution.

In addition, the committee’s recommendations, which are in the processing stage, call for expats to be excluded from certain government jobs and speeding up the replacement policy by turning more jobs from expats in public sector jobs to Kuwaitis.

Previous attempts by the authorities to regulate and reduce the number of expatriates in the country have been less than successful. However, this time around, there appears to be a consensus within the government and the legislature to remedy the country’s distorted demographic structure. This view has gained additional traction in recent months in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and low oil price scenario that has resulted in increased economic and social pressures on Kuwait.

Comments Post Comment

Leave a Comment

Submit