Saudi Shoura member calls for 20% tax on investments abroad

A member of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council has reportedly called for a 20 per cent tax on Saudi investments abroad.

Arabic daily Al-Hayat cited Fahd bin Jumaa, deputy chairman of the Financial Committee at the Shoura Council, as saying the plan would generate billions of riyals in state income and offset the exit of capital.

Foreign investments into the kingdom currently face a similar 20 per cent tax rate.

Jumaa said there was nearly SAR155.3bn ($41.4bn) of direct Saudi investments in foreign countries between 2003 and 2015, including 526 projects owned by 240 countries in more than 30 countries, according to Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corp data.

He said a tax would limit losses to the economy for similar projects and could be enforced by tax evasion deals with other countries.

However, it was unclear if the proposal would cover the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, which has sizeable investments abroad including $3.5bn in ride app Uber.

Read: Saudi Arabia invests $3.5bn in Uber