Editorial: Saudization Drive
ARAB NEWS: Call for replacement of expats with Saudis in retail sector is prompted out of necessity

In most countries, a call from a prominent economist to expel foreign workers and replace them with nationals would be met with accusations of racism. But that accusation cannot be leveled at Saudi economist Abdul Rahman Al-Homaid. His call last week to replace foreigners in the retail sector with Saudis is prompted not by fantasies of national purity but by necessity.

As we have pointed out before in these columns, there is a ticking time bomb in Saudi Arabia. It is called unemployment and it threatens to explode with potentially devastating results unless defused. Because of the population growth rate — the highest in the world — every year for the next 20 years an extra 400,000 jobs will be needed to meet the demand from young Saudis coming onto the labor market. That is just the men! The consequences of them not finding work could be serious — economically, politically and socially.

For that simple reason, there are no taboos. There cannot be the same sentiments as elsewhere. Saudi Arabia has to put its own interests first. It is not racist to call for foreigners to be replaced by nationals, which would be the case in France or Germany or the US, because there is not the overriding imperative there of finding jobs for a burgeoning population. They actually need foreigners to fill jobs. >>> Editor | Monday, January 03, 2011

Expats Fear the Arrival of Spain's Fast-track Demolition
THE TELEGRAPH: Britons living in Spain have been warned that some face "express demolition" of their houses under a tough new law announced by the regional government of Andalusia.

Owners of homes which are retrospectively judged to have fallen foul of regional planning rules can now be given just one month's notice that council bulldozers are being sent in, as part of a crackdown on excessive development in one of Spain's most popular regions.

Thousands of homes that were bought or built in good faith across the area are at risk since the regional authority began reviewing local councils' planning approvals - and concluded that in many cases, permission to build should never have been granted.

The threat of sending in bulldozers at short notice has horrified the estimated 5,000 Britons with properties in the hillsides of Almanzora, one of the worst affected areas 60 miles north of the coastal city of Almeria in southern Spain.

Hundreds of properties have already been served with demolition orders, but most homeowners had not felt under immediate threat because of Spain's slow-moving legal system. They believe that the fast-track demolition orders will change that.

"The fast-track orders could speed up the legal process and hasten demolitions," said Maura Hillen, who organised a mass rally against them in Malaga. To add insult to injury, after a demolition the victim would have to pay the municipality for the bulldozer. >>> Nick Meo in Costa Almeria and Fergal MacErlean | Sunday, May 09, 2010

Dubai Falls on Hard Times
NRC HANDELSBLAD: The wealthy Gulf state of Dubai has been hit hard by the global economic crisis. Tens of thousands of workers have been laid off and forced to return to their homelands. The Dutch community in Dubai is also feeling the pinch.

Jan Demmink has lived in Dubai for 28 years. It's the pleasant atmosphere, the entrepreneurial spirit and the climate that keep him in the Gulf state. He witnessed the transformation of what was once a tranquil and prosperous town into the vast collection of skyscrapers that makes up modern-day Dubai.

Under the leadership of Sheik Mohammed and his father Maktoum III, the emirate invested in the financial sector, tourism and real estate. The bigger, more expensive and more luxurious the better. Yet these are the very sectors that have been shaken to their foundations by the crisis and meanwhile Dubai has no major oil reserves to fall back on.

Financial nosedive

Jan Demmink works in the electronic security of complexes such as refineries, palaces and roads. His position is safe for the time being. "I work on long-running projects, so I have yet to feel the effects of the crisis," he explains. "But in construction you can see the signs already. A halt has been called to projects that were only started recently, or which have yet to get under way."

Dutch dredging company Van Oord is one of those in the firing line. The company hit the headlines worldwide with the construction of Palm Jumeirah, the first of Dubai's famous Palm islands and the construction of The World archipelago. Van Oord was all set to embark on a third island project, Palm Deira, an order worth 2.5 billion euros, the largest in the company's history. Part of the order has already been realised but the rest is on the back burner for the foreseeable future. The funding simply isn't there. Spokesman Bert Groothuizen says no one saw the rapid changes coming. "It was a nosedive. Especially in the fourth quarter of 2008. And I don't think these problems will be solved in six months' time." Expats Feeling the Economic Nosedive in Dubai >>> By Willemien Groot for Radio Netherlands Worldwide | Friday, February 27, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>

Expats in Saudi Are Feeling the Pinch
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH, 12 April 2008 — The effect of the Saudi riyal being pegged to the weakening US dollar is posing a dilemma to several expatriate workers in the Kingdom, who are either silently suffering the erosion of their incomes or quitting their jobs and going back to their native countries.

Abdul Haq Al-Tazi, a Moroccan accountant working in a private company, said he almost decided not to return after his vacation. He has been forced to reconsider the move because of the dwindling exchange rate of his riyal-based income compared to the currency in his home country.

The SR1,000 he used to send to his family in Morocco used to have an exchange value of 3,000 Moroccan dirhams. Today that SR1,000 fetches only about 2,000 dirhams, Tazi said.

“This fall in my income is because of the euro to which the currency of my country is linked while the value of US dollars, to which Saudi riyal is pegged, is falling. Now I have to send home almost SR1,500 every month to compensate for the shortfall,” Tazi said. He added that his employer did not raise his salary to compensate for the loss that began to be largely noticeable over the past several months. “Since the situation is getting worse I am thinking of leaving for my country where I can at least live with my family,” Tazi said.

Tazi is not the only Moroccan who is considering leaving Saudi Arabia due to the weakening currency and the refusal of employers to raise salaries to compensate for the current problems caused by the riyal-dollar peg. Anas ibn Zaydoun, another Moroccan working in a tourism firm in Jeddah, said he has decided to leave. Expats Feel Bite of Weak Dollar >>> By Galal Fakkar, Arab News | April 12, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)