The Essential Role of Remittances in Mitigating Economic Collapse

This White Paper addresses the impact of Saudi Arabia’s increasingly restrictive handling of its expatriate workforce on the economy in Yemen. The kingdom’s policies, which have forced tens of thousands of Yemenis to return home, have resulted in a dramatic loss of income from remittances for their families in Yemen at a time when the country is already going through a catastrophic humanitarian situation. The authors thus argue that it is incumbent upon GCC states, and Saudi Arabia in particular, to allow Yemeni expat workers an exemption from the current labor nationalization campaigns – at least until a post-conflict Yemen has attained acceptable economic growth and the issue of the repatriation of Yemeni workers can be revisited responsibly.

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