Activate partnership with private sector — industry chief

AMMAN — Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) President Ziad Homsi stressed on Saturday that activating real partnership with the private sector was the best approach to improve the Kingdom’s  investment climate and to attract local, Arab and foreign investors.

Underlining His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to intensify efforts and to speed up procedures aimed at addressing the challenges facing the private sector,  Homsi urged the government to activate amendments on laws relate to income tax, sales tax, development areas, investment promotion, labour, and social security, in order to stimulate the production and  business environment. 

He highlighted the importance of the Income Tax Law and its effects on the industrial sector indicating that industrialists shoulder high investment risks compared to other sectors, because investment returns are no more than 10 per cent due to high capital build up injected in the projects.

According to the ACI chief, “an industrialist needs an average of five years to start receiving a return on investment since projects need time to be constructed and operated.” 

Homsi called for establishing special support funds that offer loans and necessary liquidity for industry at affordable interest to improve machines, upgrade them, and involve technology at a wider rate to arrive at as a “quantum leap” in the Jordanian operations and at a high quality products. 

He also emphasised the importance of reviewing work and recruitment policies to make rehabilitation and training programmes and offer qualified and trained workers to the Jordanian industrial sector, regarded as the most important employment sector with the ability to create new job opportunities.