(Bloomberg) -- Kuwait’s parliament unanimously approved a law giving the government a year to set in motion plans to redress the lopsided ratio between foreign residents and citizens.

Expatriates, brought in over the decades to perform both specialized jobs and unskilled labor, account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s 4.8 million people. Within the next 12 months, the government is to formulate procedures and mechanisms to cut the number of foreigners.

Kuwait Doesn’t Want to Be an Expat-Majority Nation Anymore

Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah said in June that expatriates should be more than halved to 30% of the population, as the coronavirus pandemic and a slump in oil prices put the economy under intense strain.

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