Lower House finance committee discusses 2025 budgets of public media institutions

AMMAN — The Lower House Finance Committee discussed on Monday with representatives from  the Ministry of Government Communication, the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation (JRTV), the Jordan News Agency (Petra), Media Commission, and the government-owned Al-Mamlaka TV their institutions 2025 budgets. 

Attending part of the meeting, Lower House Speaker Ahmad Safadi, emphasized the committee's dedication to finalising the 2025 general budget and submitting it to the Senate at the beginning of next month to expedite the allocation of funds for developmental projects, Petra reported.

The government has sent the 2025 state budget law to the House, which referred it to its Legal Committee for examination.  

Head of the Finance Committee Nimer Sleihat said that the Ministry of Government Communication budget amounted to about JD2 million, an increase of JD320,000, the budget of the Radio and Television Corporation about JD29 million, an increase of JD2.5 million, the budget of the Jordan News Agency JD3.2 million, an increase of JD312,000, and the budget of the Media Commission is JD1.5 million, an increase of JD216,000, mostly current expenditures, while the Al-Mamlaka TV allocations amounted to about JD10 million.

JRTV Director General Ibrahim Bawarid said that the growth in the corporation's budget was due to the installation of  a new system that links all systems within radio, television, broadcasting, and archives, which saves time and effort and accelerates achievement.

He added that during the past two years, the JRTV achieved a savings of JD1.3 million by obtaining a discount of more than 50 percent on satellite broadcasting.

Jafar Zo'ubi, Al-Mamlaka TV director general, said that more than 50 to 60 of its employees of the government-owned channel have been recruited abroad.