NO one has the right to protest when he or she comes to know that the remittances made by expatriates and foreign contractors to their respective homes during the past nine months have reached more than SR101 billion. These remittances are expected to go up to more than SR130 billion by the year-end. We have no right to object because the money remitted abroad was from financial gains foreign companies have made by executing projects contracted to them. Similarly, expatriates made their money from jobs they did for the public and private sectors. It is not within the capacity of anyone to object or deny when he or she comes to know that these remittances are equal to more than 19 percent of government expenditures projected in the state budget for the current fiscal year. Contractors and expatriates did not sneak into our country in the dark. It is we who went to them right at their homes and brought them to our country to work for us and to execute our development projects. No one should also object or protest when he or she comes to know that money transfers abroad during the past six years have increased by 177 percent. This number is expected to increase further in the coming years as long as the doors for recruitment of foreign manpower are open, Saudization programs are faltering and the policy of giving opportunities to foreign investors has become a basic pillar of our development projects. No one has the right to object to what has been stated above. However, everyone has the right to be surprised when he or she comes to know that the number of Saudi men and women who receive financial assistance from the ministries of Labor and Social Affairs has crossed three million representing about 15 percent of the Kingdom's total population. Three years ago, those who benefitted from this assistance were only 470,000. When we compare the remittances and the need for assistance we can understand the decision of the Labor Ministry concerning reduction of work visas, raising charges or besieging private companies and establishments with nationalization programs such as the Nitaqat.
