PM advises against ‘poverty institutionalisation’

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Tuesday urged the concerned parties against institutionalising poverty through permanent cash assistance to underprivileged families that benefit from the National Aid Fund (NAF). 

During a visit to NAF and a meeting with the fund’s director, Basma Ishaqat, the premier called for employment programmes designed in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour to find jobs for the sons and daughters of the families registered as NAF beneficiaries.

These young men and women should be prepared to replace guest labourers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted Mulki as saying. 

He also called for developing the fund’s database to categorise the underprivileged into three groups: low-income households, poor and extremely poor. Aid should target the extremely poor, he said.

Minister of Social Development Khawla Armouti said in her presentation that NAF extends emergency and regular allowances to around 90,000 households, fully funded by the government, which allocates JD94 million to the aid agency. 

Ishaqat said in remarks to the press that 97 per cent of the budget is disbursed to the beneficiaries.

She said NAF seeks to increase self-reliance among Jordanians, adding that the premier asked private businesses to hire the sons and daughters of the families benefiting from the fund.

Mulki was accompanied by several other ministers.