RIYADH: The Ministry of Labor issued an order on Tuesday that the cost of recruiting domestic workers from Bangladesh and Niger should not exceed SR7,000.

The minimum monthly salary for a Bangladeshi must be SR800 and for a worker from Niger SR750.

The ministry reportedly has set a 60-day limit for recruiting workers with a penalty of SR100 for each day in case of late arrival or a maximum of not more than SR3,000. The ministry will also prevent recruitment offices from collecting the full amount of the contract at the time of signing and what is collected must not exceed 25 percent of the value of the contract.

A government report shows that the number of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia stood at 1.93 million at the end of 2015. Of this number, 62.4 percent are women.

The report said 1,935,204 workers were recruited last year with 1,208,973 female and 726, 231 male workers.

The ministry is now working with the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs to find solutions to problems in recruiting domestic help.

The ministry issued last year a number of regulations to develop the domestic labor market, including the cost and duration of recruitment and activating the role of concerned companies and offices.

It also worked to improve market performance and considered various options to increase competitiveness and activate the role of overseas offices in order to reduce delays in agreements signed with states.

The ministry said that it has a dedicated team to study and review the recruitment of domestic labor costs and compare them to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).