The Jordanian government approved the laws of the general budget and government units for the fiscal year 2021, after being approved by the National Assembly with its two chambers of representatives and notables.
The total expenditures of the draft general budget are 9.93 billion dinars ($14 billion), while the revenues amounted to 7.8 billion dinars ($10.9 billion). Meanwhile, the government estimated the deficit at 2.05 billion dinars ($2.89 billion) after external grants.
The Jordanian Minister of Finance, Mohamad Al-Ississ, confirmed that "the budget was based on an expected growth in the Kingdom's economy of 2.5 percent during the current year 2021," explaining that "the government did not impose new taxes to fill the budget deficit."
The Jordanians are facing a difficult period, as unemployment recorded an unprecedented record high in the last quarter of last year, in light of the economy suffering from the repercussions of the new Coronavirus pandemic, which cast a wide negative shadow over various activities, especially tourism, whose revenues plunged by about 75 percent, whereas the unemployment rate reached 24.7 percent, compared to 19 percent in the last quarter of 2019.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
