Lower House’s Financial Committee calls for support to ailing tourism sector

AMMAN — The Lower House’s Financial Committee submitted on Wednesday its report on the 2024 state budget law, recommending a set of measures to support the tourism sector, which has been hardly hit by the consequences of the Israeli war on Gaza. 

Presenting its notes and recommendations on the draft budget law to the Chamber, the committee said that debt interest reached JD1.98 billion, marking an increase of 16.2 per cent compared with the reassessment of 2023.

MP Ali Tarawneh, the committee's rapporteur, said that the subsidy for wheat reached JD143 million and barley JD66 million, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Tarawneh said that the post-grants financial deficit reached about JD2.068 billion in the public budget law, while the pre-grants deficit was about JD2.792 billion, which represents 7.4 per cent of the gross domestic product.

The Israeli aggression on Gaza and the occupied West Bank has affected Jordan's tourism sector and other related industries, which resulted in a 90 per cent decline in the sector's performance in the last quarter of the previous year, he said.

The tourism sector achieved a growth of 37.7 per cent last year, the MP said.

 The report highlighted that the Israeli aggression since last October has affected the general mood of all citizens, making them feel oppressed by attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites, which has had a negative impact on overall public consumption. 

Tourism revenues were affected by JD850 million, which would have contributed to an increase in GDP of around 4 per cent by the end of last year, and tax revenues fell by JD100 million, reaching their minimum limit, according to Tarwaneh.