Free Zone witnesses 50% drop in hybrid vehicle clearance

AMMAN — The volume of clearance of hybrid vehicles dropped by an average of 50 per cent monthly during 2021, compared with the monthly average in 2020, President of the Jordan Free Zones Investors Association (JFZIA) Mohammad Bustanji said on Monday. 

Bustanji noted that the average monthly clearance in 2020 registered some 1,600 hybrid vehicles, compared with an average of 650 in 2021, according to a JFZIA statement. 

He said that the decrease will further increase next year with the reimposition of a 55 per cent tax on hybrid vehicles after the end of a tax exemption period endorsed by the Council of Ministers in June 2018. 

Reimposing the 55 per cent tax will lead to “almost paralysis” of the clearance of hybrid vehicles next year, the association president added.

He noted that the first five months of the year witnessed the clearance of 11,500 gasoline and diesel vehicles, 3,200 hybrid and 1,000 electric vehicles.

The January-May period also saw the reexports of 18,300 vehicles from the free zone in Zarqa, compared with 27,300 vehicles in the same period of last year, Bustanji pointed out.

A government decision to increase the tax on hybrid vehicles to reach 45 per cent came into effect on January 1, much to the “displeasure of the automobile sector”.

In late 2018, the Cabinet passed a decision to raise the clearance tax on hybrid vehicles to 35 per cent in 2019, 40 per cent in 2020 and 45 per cent in 2021.