Jordanian Prime Minister Bishr Al-Khasawneh called for the preparation of the budget bill for the fiscal year 2021. The 2021 budget communiqué expects economic growth to rise to 2.5% while inflation will reach 1.3%, and national exports to rise by 6.5% for the next year 2021. This is in return for not allocating any provisions for the purposes of appointment. In the new jobs updated for 2021, it also included not imposing new taxes, and expanding the base of those covered by the health insurance program for uninsured individuals.
The estimates of expenditures and revenues in the two draft general budget law and government units' budgets were based on: the natural annual increase of employees' salaries, securing financial allocations to support the Jordanian Armed Forces and security agencies, the natural annual increase in retirement allocations, and continuing to control appointments for vacant positions. The communication contained a clause stipulating that all hygienic necessities should be spent; to preserve the life of the Jordanian citizen in light of the health risks of the Corona pandemic, and not to appoint at the expense of capital projects, including the purchase of services, and to limit this to justified cases. It also included stopping capital projects that predominate in the nature of current expenditures, and reclassifying them under current expenditures, and not changing or purchasing furniture in ministries or departments except for extreme necessity, and after obtaining the approval of the Prime Minister.
On the other hand, Jordan’s debt stock increased during the first eight months of this year, excluding funds from the Guarantee Investment Fund, by 11% to 26.51 billion dinars, and by 85% of GDP, while the total public debt reached 33.19 billion dinars at the end of August, according to the financial bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
