Gov’t presents bills to boost investment, growth, job creation

AMMAN — Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh on Monday said that the draft laws related to regulating the investment environment, companies and competitiveness aim to stimulate investments and generate jobs.

In remarks during a Lower House session, Khasawneh said that the government sought to refer the three bills during the extraordinary session rather than waiting for the ordinary session as they are in line with the 10-year Economic Modernisation Vision, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The prime minister also said that these draft laws are important to realise “key goals”, such as employing one million Jordanians and realising economic growth rates of up to 5 per cent.

The premier called on the Lower House Economy and Investment Committee, which received the draft bills earlier in the day for deliberations, to improve the set of bills that aim to regulate the business environment, stressing that the government's economy team will “engage positively” with any addition to these laws.

As for the companies' draft law, Khasawneh said that the bill is in "complete harmony" with the draft law to regulate the investment environment and includes procedures to facilitate business practices to reduce time, effort and costs for shareholders.  

The prime minister renewed the government's commitment to partnership with the private sector, noting that this partnership constitutes “a main factor” for creating jobs and addressing high rates of unemployment.

In this regard, he said that the public sector has reached its maximum capacity of new graduates and workers, who annually stand at some 130,000 Jordanians.

As for energy and mining, the prime minister said that the government has reduced the price of electricity for economic sectors, yet the Kingdom still cannot compete with oil-producing countries in terms of energy costs. 

Khasawneh said that when comparing the Kingdom with other regional countries with similar economic conditions, “one finds out that Jordan is in a better situation”, especially since the Kingdom has not reached points of financial or monetary risks, stressing that Jordan has "historic" reserves of foreign currencies.