Covid-19 Pandemic and the Labour Migrants in the Gulf Cooporation Council (GCC) Region
As of May 15 2020, the six Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries; namely Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain have recorded approximately 118,739 cases of Covid-19 forcing GCC governments to take drastic measures from restricting economic activities to lockdowns to control the spread of the virus. These containment measures and the pandemic-led reduction in oil prices in the world market are likely to have a substantial negative impact on oil-dependent GCC economies in the coming months and years.
The economic pressures faced by the GCC region, in turn, will adversely affect its labour migrants who account for more than fifty per cent of the GCC labour force. As the vast majority of these migrants are from poor developing nations in South Asia, Africa, East Asia and the Middle East which depend on remittances from the GCC, these countries will be severely affected by the financial pitfalls of the GCC. Sri Lanka also as a labour-sending nation to the GCC region will experience hardships, exacerbating the economic issues the country is already facing due to the pandemic.