Private companies that hire more foreigners than Saudis will pay fines since Thursday, as part of the Saudi government's measures to tackle the unemployment among nationals in the country.

Starting from Nov. 15, private companies whose foreign employees outnumber local ones will be charged around 640 U.S. dollars for each foreign worker they employ, the Saudi News Agency on Tuesday quoted a statement of the labor ministry as saying.

The fines will be paid by companies annually when they apply for or renew their employees' work permits, and the money will be allocated for the Human Resources Development Fund to organize training initiatives for Saudis, according to the statement.

The fines are not applicable to foreigners whose mothers are Saudi, nationals of Gulf Cooperation Council member states, and domestic workers, it said.

The decision is expected to reduce the gap between foreign and local workers, as well as the number of runaway workers in the country, the deputy labor minister said in the statement. Endi

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