Finance Ministry announces halt to new vehicle purchases

AMMAN — The Ministry of Finance has stopped approving requests for the purchase of new vehicles sent by any government entity, according to  a report made available to The Jordan Times. 

Minister of Finance Ezzeddine Kanakrieh made the decision just days after he said in a press conference that the government’s 2019 budget plan would decrease the ratio of deficit-to-GDP by 0.7 per cent, which would bring it down to 2 rather than 2.7 per cent.

He also said earlier this week that “new and strict anti-graft laws, as well as reduced government spending”, would be strategies implemented in the next two years, saying that the deficit would plummet to 1.3 per cent of the GDP by 2021.

Kanakrieh began executing the “reduced government spending” strategy as of last week, when he reassigned 15 unused vehicles to ministries with a deficit.

His statement, issued on Monday, said no government ministry, organisation, institution or government-owned company would be getting new cars, but would be assigned the extras of other entities instead.

The announcement was warmly welcomed by Jordanians on social media, who said that “the decision should have been implemented years ago”, as Jumah Smadi put it in a comment on Facebook.

However, some also called for stricter laws to limit the use of government vehicles. “My cousin uses the car to go out with his friends on Friday. The car should be taken away from him and his licence should be revoked,” said Yazan Qudah.

“There should be stricter laws for those who are using our tax money for their own purposes,” Tweeted Layla Qazzaz.