Economy tops King’s priorities

The King on Sunday issued directives for the establishment of a new council to work on tackling economic challenges facing the country.

The 15-member Economic Policies Council, which will be working under the King’s direct supervision, was tasked with debating economic policies, programmes and development plans.

The fact that it is under His Majesty’s supervision depicts the King’s keen interest in focusing on economic priorities.

Adding to its weight, the council includes the prime minister, the governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, heads of the finance and economic committees at the two Chambers of Parliament, top economic experts and representatives of the private sector.

In fact, the private sector representatives are a majority, which demonstrates the importance of the sector in developing the national economy.

It is wise to consider the private sector a partner that can help not only in drawing up public policies, but also in implementing them by attracting investments, creating projects, coming up with ideas and guiding government decisions in a manner that would serve the national economy, and consequently the well-being of citizens. 

In the letter to the prime minister announcing the establishment of the council on Sunday, His Majesty highlighted the role of the private sector: “We are fully convinced that the development of economies and creation of jobs hinge on the innovations, ideas and initiatives of the private sector and its contributions to development efforts.”

An important aspect to be highlighted is that this council will be a sustainable trans-governmental entity that works in an institutional manner without being affected by any changes in the executive authority.

This, coupled with the fact that its work is supervised directly by the King, would give this council a great degree of independence and ensure that policies charted by it would be implemented on the short and long terms regardless of government changes.

Overall, this council comes as a qualitative step to help the country deal with economic problems and find viable solutions, to think out of the box and even turn challenges into opportunities.

Jordan, which has been suffering from the lack of resources and priding itself in its major asset — the human element — has always managed to overcome challenges facing it and was able to cross a long distance over the past years as others in the region were facing problems of various sorts.