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.

“I normally invest SR100,000 in business ventures in Egypt each year. Now I’m going to wait until things become clear and stability returns to the country,” said Mahmoud Al-Jammal, an Egyptian architect working in Jeddah.

“Many Egyptian residents in the Kingdom invest their local savings in small and medium projects back home, such as restaurants and small construction companies. The current situation in my country is not encouraging, but I expect stability to return in a short while.”

“I am planning to open a restaurant in Syria. However, the political turmoil worries me. I cannot continue to transfer my money to Syria,” said Ahmed Khattab, a Syrian worker.

“I have SR200,000 in local savings. I will invest it in the tourism sector in Syria, once the turmoil there ends.”