Replacing oil revenues

New legislation will require cafes and restaurants in Saudi Arabia to pay up to SAR100,000 ($26,675) a year to sell tobacco products, reports The Arab News.

The measure is meant not only to discourage smoking but also to replace declining oil revenues as Saudi Arabia attempts to diversify its streams of income, according to Sean Foley, an associate professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University who is writing a book on smoking in Saudi Arabia and the wider Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia has some of the highest smoking rates in the world. According to Foley, the number of smokers is expected to rise from six million to 10 million in the coming years.

Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries to ratify the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005.

The Health Ministry has taken steps to curb smoking through awareness campaigns and cessation clinics. Taxes on cigarettes doubled in 2017, leading to a 213 percent increase in smokers seeking help to kick the habit in the months that followed.