‘More than 5m Jordanians to benefit from gov’t cash support’

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Tuesday said that 5,125,000 Jordanians will benefit from government financial support after the removal of subsidies, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The PM noted that the subsidies will be granted to those whose annual income is below JD12,000 for families and JD6,000 for individuals.

Also, beneficiary families must not own properties worth more than JD300,000 or more than two vehicles, Mulki said.

He stressed that the financial reform measures will consider supporting and protecting the low- and middle-income segments, noting that the government has allocated JD171 million from the budget for this purpose.

The premier said that the bread subsidies, which reach JD200 million annually, have been granted to all including non-Jordanians, who constitute one-third of the population, and has caused a “huge waste” of bread.

He stressed that the government wants to support Jordanians “not commodities”.

The remarks came during Mulki’s meeting with presidents of professional associations at the Prime Ministry.

During the meeting, the PM and the presidents discussed the challenges facing Jordan, especially economic ones.

The prime minister outlined the main economic challenges including the public debt ratio to the GDP during the last six years, which the government has managed to stabilise.

He noted that the ratio covering the current spending by local revenues increased in 2018’s general budget to 98.2 per cent compared to 92.9 in the previous year’s budget, expressing hope that it would reach 100 per cent in the next budget.

For unemployment, the premier noted that the government has allocated JD100 million for technical training and replacing foreign labour with Jordanians.

He stressed the need to restructure the public sector in terms of employees, noting that 75 per cent of the budget’s current spending goes to salaries and pensions.