Economists pin hope on Royal directives to achieve sustainable growth

AMMAN — Economists emphasise the importance of the Royal directives to develop a comprehensive vision and a roadmap for the coming years.

His Majesty King Abdullah in a letter to the Jordanian people on his 60th birthday on Sunday, highlighted the aspirations for Jordan's future and directed the Royal Court to start organising a national workshop to devise a comprehensive vision for the future.

Economist Salamah Darawi indicated that His Majesty’s letter revolves around increasing coordination and understanding between the public and private sectors to achieve one goal: Create new job opportunities as unemployment poses a “real threat” to security and social stability.

“Ensuring unlocking the capabilities to achieve comprehensive sustainable growth, through a workshop with the participation of experts and specialists in the economic sectors, will result in providing an integrated institutional framework for governments and economic sectors,” Darawi told The Jordan Times on Monday. 

He noted that this requires cooperation between the public and private sectors and research into the obstacles that limit the private sector’s growth. 

According to Darawi, one of the main obstacles to improve the business environment in the Kingdom is the absence of institutional management in the implementation stage. 

In the light of what the Jordan’s economy is suffering from due to the pandemic crisis, there is a “dire need for reassessment, rehabilitation, correction, evaluation and correction of the economic approach”, he said.

Economist Isam Qadamani noted that Jordan needs its youth “to not give up”.

“We are always full of hope towards construction and political and economic reform,” Qadamani told The Jordan Times.

He emphasised that Jordan will continue the policy of openness and will resume its projects despite the challenges and crises. “Even if failures exist, the successes are always greater,” he said.

The economy is currently growing at a rate of 2.5 per cent annually, despite the increase in population, he added.

He noted that had there been no pandemic, poverty would have continued to decline and unemployment would have remained within the limits of control at 14 per cent. 

Political economist Zayan Zawaneh indicated that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are essential for the sustainable development process His Majesty referred to face the problem of unemployment.

In the 60s and 70s, PPPs were what established “all the pearls of the Jordanian economy and laid the basic foundation for the infrastructure on which we live until now”, Zawaneh told The Jordan Times on Monday.

Zawaneh emphasised the importance of PPPs, in the past and present, for creating job opportunities. “We need officials who implement PPPs honestly and professionally to reduce the unemployment rate and have successful projects,” he said.

Zawaneh noted that Jordan does not lack resources, but is missing resource management. “Jordan is full of promising sectors that need multiple things to reach their potential, most importantly PPPs, whether tourism, agriculture, the IT sector or others,” he added.

He also highlighted the importance of Jordan’s tourism sector for economic growth: “A plan must be drawn up to repair and prepare several tourist sites for a period of five years.”

Regarding the agriculture sector, Zawaneh pointed out the importance of renewing and developing irrigation systems.