Last week Saudi Arabia said it banned the recruitment of domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines following hiring conditions imposed by the two Asian countries.
Meanwhile, recruitment offices in Saudi Arabia are now focusing on the recruitment of men from both countries for technical jobs. Last week's decision to ban the recruitment of housemaids from both countries has caused them heavy losses, he claimed.
The EPCCI recruitment committee member said the Kingdom used to recruit 15,000 to 20,000 domestic workers from Indonesia per month and sometimes the figure jumped to 25,000 workers monthly in certain seasons.
In light of the decision, some 80,000 work visas were suspended at the Saudi Embassy in Jakarta causing the Saudi recruitment offices millions of riyals worth of losses, he said.
Following last week's decision, Saudi recruitment offices have opted for other countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Sri Lanka, he said. However, recruitment processes involving these countries were more risky and could inflict more losses on Saudi recruitment offices, he pointed out.
A recruitment office owner said offices in Ethiopia, Kenya and Sri Lanka were found to have committed fraudulent practices and sometimes did not produce workers as agreed.
