‘Government meets 25 out of 33 targets during second quarter’

AMMAN — The government has completed 25 pledges out of a total 33 during the second quarter of 2019, Minister of State for Institutional Performance Development Yasera Ghosheh said on Sunday.

During a press conference held at the Prime Ministry, attended by Minister of State for Media Affairs Jumana Ghunaimat, Ghosheh said that the commitment completion rate has reached 75.7 per cent so far.

In regards to enhancing integrity, the Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission referred 148 cases to the judiciary in the first half of 2019, compared with 123 cases in the same period of 2018, Ghosheh said.

She noted that the current government retrieved JD33 million in public funds during efforts to curb wasteful spending.

Concerning law enforcement, the minister said that the government has intensified security campaigns to combat water and electricity theft.

Until the end of May, the authorities had sealed off 1,145 wells, seized 71 excavators and uncovered 51,414 instances in which water pipes had been tampered with. The campaign also reported 8,836 cases of electricity theft, the minister said, adding that 2,180 violations against Treasury land in the Jordan Valley were resolved.

In regards to measures to foster economic growth, the minister pointed to an expansion of the central bank’s investments programme.

The bank's programme offers loans with low interest rates and recently added three new sectors: health, transportation and education with a focus on vocational education, the minister said.

This programme already covered the sectors of industry, tourism, renewable energy, agriculture, IT and engineering, all of which have been funded by a total of JD702 million so far, out of the JD1.2 billion available. 

A total of 1,026 projects have benefited from the programme, which has provided over 9,800 jobs, Ghosheh said. 

On entrepreneurship and trade, the insurance coverage for Jordanian exporters was increased as part of the "export credit guarantee" programme, Ghosheh said.

As for job opportunities, the government is committed to providing 30,000 jobs in 2019, the minister said, adding that so far it has provided 18,057 jobs. 

Answering questions on the nature of these jobs and whether are covered under social security, Government Spokesperson Ghunaimat said that only 7,396 of the jobs are covered under social security. 

Turning to the Amman Bus project, which currently operates 135 buses, Ghosheh said the plan is to provide a total of 286 small and medium-sized buses for the project by the end of 2020. 

Ghosheh added that the delayed commitments included pledges to develop and amend the Decentralisation Law as well as the Municipalities Law.

She attributed the delay to a need to combine the two laws to ensure that responsibilities delegated to governorate and municipality councils do not clash.

Ghosheh also said that the government is currently working on a local administration law, which is why the Local Administration Ministry was created. 

The government was late to develop and amend the zakat (alms) law, which Ghosheh attributed to the diverse opinions of scholars.

Those interested in further details about the government's work during the first and second quarters can access www.your.gov.jo to view the full details of completed and delayed commitments.