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Saudi Arabia cuts hiring fees for Ugandan domestic workers by Shs1.2m
Ugandans wait to be cleared at Entebbe International Airport before they take a flight to the United Arab Emirates for work. PHOTO / FILE
What you need to know:
- This is a reduction of Shs1.2m in the monthly payments for Ugandan employees
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has revised downwards the maximum wages payable to domestic workers from a number of countries with wage payments to Ugandan workers reducing from SR9,500 (Shs9,672,645) to SR8,300 (Shs8,450,837), which represents a 12.6 per cent reduction.
This is a reduction of Shs1.2m in the monthly payments for Ugandan employees.
In a statement from the country’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on Tuesday, Uganda is not the only country that is affected by the cut down in wage payments. Other countries include; Kenya, Ethiopia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
In the list, only African countries got a double-digit percentage reduction, with Kenya taking a 17.2 per cent cut from SR10,870 to SR9,000, while Ethiopia got a 14.5 per cent cut from SR6,900 to SR5,900.
Kenyan workers took the biggest hit in the group of six, with the ceiling for the annual payable wage
For Kenya’s case, the development comes at a time the President William Ruto-led administration has launched an aggressive campaign to court international employers in efforts aimed at easing ballooning unemployment at the local scene, is set to strike a blow to diaspora cash inflows as remittances from Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly two-thirds of transmittal growth during the eight months to August last year
“The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has announced the reduction of the upper ceiling for the costs of recruiting domestic labour services in a number of countries…This step comes within the framework of the ministry’s efforts to review recruitment costs and ensure fair prices,” reads a translated version of the statement that was originally posted yesterday on the ministry’s official website in Arabic.
“The decision comes within the framework of the ministry’s endeavour to develop all services, improve the labour market environment and enhance its attractiveness, and the keenness to review the costs of services provided and systems according to economic variables,” the Ministry added in the statement.
