1,000+ mobile shops closed after violating Saudisation rules

More than 1,000 mobile shops in Saudi Arabia were closed after being found in violation of new rules requiring 50 per cent of their workforce to be Saudi.

Saudi Press Agency cited a special committee designed to oversee the new rules as saying that up to 11,584 shops had abided by the new regulation, while 2,198 were found to be in violation.

Of these, 1,179 were closed down and 549 were handed final warnings. The remaining shops were closed at the time of inspection.
The largest number of violating shops was found to be in the Eastern Province, at 632, and the least in Najran, with 10.

Ministry of Labour undersecretary for inspections and improvement of the work environment Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Ouwaidi said the Eastern Province had 3,166 shops committed to the regulation, followed by 1,781 in Riyadh.

Inspections will continue until the 100 per cent Saudisation deadline on September 2.

Read: Saudi mobile industry required to employ 100% Saudis in six months

Reports last month suggested up to half of mobile shops were up for sale in the kingdom following the announcement of the new rules in March.

Read: Nationalisation drive sees 50% of Saudi mobile shops up for sale