AMMAN — The Lower House on Monday started deliberations over the draft 2014 state budget amid expectations that voting on the bill will take place by end of this week.
The House will need more than 25 hours to conclude its debate over the bill, as each deputy has 10 minutes to address the Chamber.
On the first day of the debate, most of the speakers who took the podium expressed their opposition to the bill, with the majority blaming the government for the “bad” economic situation and the increasing budget deficit.
They called for looking into alternatives to finance the budget rather than relying on citizens’ pockets through more taxes and higher prices of basic commodities.
The first day also witnessed calls to divert the subsidies to target Jordanians who need them rather than maintaining the same blanket subsidy system that the rich and poor benefit from.
In their speeches, many deputies focused on demands for their own constituencies, urging the government to allocate funds to provide more services for local communities across the Kingdom.
Last week, the Lower House Financial Committee concluded its review of the bill and sent it to the Permanent Office.
Immediately, after receiving the committee’s recommendations on the draft, the Lower House dedicated this week’s meetings to discussing the bill to endorse it before a delegation of MPs leaves the country to participate in a regional activity in Kuwait next week.
After holding 60 meetings with various government entities over the past few weeks, the House panel submitted 25 recommendations to the government for examination during the discussions under the Dome.
The committee recommended that the government draft a deficit law to cover the next five years, starting in 2015 to reach self-sufficiency by 2020.
The panel urged the government to speed up its efforts to collect Treasury funds — estimated at JD2 billion — and conclude all lawsuits against tax evaders and others who owe money to the state, expected to generate JD1 billion, calling on the authorities to aggressively combat tax evasion.
The government should also accelerate the implementation of alternative energy projects, according to the panel’s recommendations, which were made available to The Jordan Times.
The government submitted the draft budget to the Lower House in November 2013, with a 12.8 per cent expansion in spending and a deficit of around JD1.1 billion.
