Saudi Arabia set to ban Sri Lankan maids

Saudi Arabia is expected to announce a decision on Sunday halting the recruitment of Sri Lankan housemaids following a rift on costs with the government of the south Asian nation, a Saudi daily reported on Saturday.

A Saudi government committee is scheduled to meet on Sunday to announce the boycott after Sri Lanka’s government rejected Riyadh’s demand for cutting the recruitment costs to SR5,500 per housemaid from SR7,500, the Arabic language daily Alyoum said, quoting authoritative sources in the Gulf Kingdom.

“The National Committee for Hiring will announce a decision tomorrow to completely stop the recruitment of Sri Lankan housemaids,” it said.

“The intransigence of the Sri Lankan side has prompted all members of the Committee to reach a consensus in this respect…they are now in the process of discussing alternative sources of housemaids from other countries.”

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers heavily rely on Asian domestic servants given their high per capita income.

The region is also home to more than seven million Asian workers, a major source of hard currency for their home countries.

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