Arabic Press

Al Ghad’s Fahd Kheitan said that there is a common belief that the coronavirus crisis re-established the government’s role in the Jordanian society.

Kheitan said that this is an international discussion happening within the theory of globalism falling for nationalism to rise. He said that conclusions in this regard are premature; highlighting that soon after the crisis ends, governments will return to their usual behaviour and will find no alternative to cooperation.

The writer said that the damage to international medical and food supply chains was due to measures against the pandemic and not aimed to damage globalism.

The columnist said that most countries will resort to tools of financial globalism to curb the crisis’ economic repercussions, pointing to loan requests submitted by dozens of countries to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other funds. He also said that countries will seek to increase their exports, their stock of foreign currency and their supply of basic goods that cannot be provided nationally.

The writer said that Jordan relies on the private sector in the coming phase to increase exports, stimulate the economy and curb the unemployment problem.

Kheitan said that the Jordanian government will not go back to creating goods and selling them or to building and running factories; rather it will play a regulatory role while the private sector performs its productive tasks.

He said that the government’s new role entails caring for the social groups most affected by the crisis, assisting productive sectors, securing a supply of basic goods, preventing monopoly and building a comprehensive strategy to confront future crises.

Al Rai’s Issam Qadamani said that if ministers are asked about plans for their respective ministries for the post-coronavirus phase, each one will answer: “What matters now is people’s health and overcoming the crisis.” This answer will not be accepted for so long, especially because every minister has to take the initiative and prepare an emergency plan to face the repercussions as required from their ministries, said the writer, adding that delaying such plans means prolonging the crisis and the suffering.

All plans that the government “pretends” it has to deal with the crisis in the economic and social sectors are no longer applicable, especially that the factors used for preparing these plans have changed now; the projected economic growth is not the same nor are the budget revenues, tourism returns and expatriates’ remittances, said the columnist.

It is true that the expectations of International Monetary Fund Mission Chief to Jordan Chris Jarvis for the Jordanian economy to recover its growth rates faster than other countries are close to reality, but the fund itself can no longer predict under the rapidly changing facts on the ground, added the writer.

IMF projections show that the entire world will face a big drop in growth rates, where many countries will endure “enormous” decline in their GDPs, said the columnist, adding that there are no proper means so far on how to deal with the problem and alleviate its repercussions.

The government is supposed to have an alternative economic plan to deal with the new damages and the expectations to face an unprecedented and sharp global economic recession, argued the writer.

Al Ghad’s Maher Abu Tair wondered if it is sheer arrogance from the US or just an attempt to say that the pandemic will not change Washington’s policies, where sensitive issues will remain unchanged.

US President Donald Trump threatens Iran again and directs the US military to destroy any Iranian ships that try to come closer to US ships, in response to what Washington considered a Tehran attempt to tamper with US vessels a week ago, said the writer.

Iranians responded with the same language and sent threatening cables to the US, said the columnist, adding that this might lead the entire region to face a possible spark that can be ignited by a military mistake.

The world is collapsing under the COVID-19, where maps will be subject to slow political and economic restructuring unless a war is started in a way that contributes to a quick preamble to drastic changes in the world, said the writer.

The US is not a weak country to collapse that easily, which is supposed to be known for all, mainly that it is still the top power of the world, said the columnist, adding that Washington is going on with threatening Tehran and Beijing so as to make sure that these two countries will not be stronger after the pandemic.   

Al Rai’s Ziad Rabbai said that nobody denies the importance of subscribing at the Social Security Corporation, even for housewives, because it provides protection for people after retirement and hardships, including under crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.

All are aware of the efforts exerted by the corporation to convince people, mainly those with free businesses and daily workers, of the importance of subscribing in the social security within reasonable ceilings, said the writer, adding that the government should not impose restrictions for doing businesses under these circumstances.

The social, age, living and educational status suggests difficulty for subscribing at the corporation for many professions and citizens who mainly make their living from daily jobs, said the columnist.

The corporation can be strict in obliging small enterprises to join the social security as part of the incentives series it endorsed, yet it cannot adopt the same measures with daily workers under these difficult conditions, especially that the goal in this phase is to ease measures to allow people secure their daily bread.

Under the curfew imposed by the COVID-19, all people are suffering to secure their incomes and the government does not have to be an obstacle in the face of some people who seek to secure their incomes with their own efforts without waiting for aid from others, added the writer. 

Ad Dustour’s Amer Shoubaki said that the negative effects of the collapse of prices of US oil futures for May delivery will be more than the positives for Jordan.

US oil closed trading on Monday at an unprecedented rate ever of -$37.63 per barrel, which means that traders have paid buyers to get rid of a commodity that flooded their reservoirs, said the writer, adding that trading on Tuesday for oil futures for June delivery started at $16 per barrel.

Jordan is affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, where the Kingdom’s daily loss due to the absence of taxes on selling fuel derivatives ranges between JD2 million and JD3 million, said the columnist.

The collapse of the West Texas Intermediate will reflect on the Brent, which, the latter, lost 17 per cent of its value, where the price of one barrel stood at $21, said the writer.

The Brent rate might drop further as markets approach oil futures for June delivery, which entails big losses to oil producing countries that include donors to Jordan, added the columnist. Moreover, the writer said that Gulf countries have reduced their budgets to be able to address the crisis, which forms a burden for Jordan to receive grants from these countries.

Gulf countries also host thousands of Jordanians who work there and are now threatened to lose their jobs and come back to the Kingdom, which will exacerbate domestic burdens, argued the columnist. As for the positives, Jordan can benefit from the historic drop in oil prices through filling up its strategic reserves, which would help reduce the oil bill over months to come, said the writer.

The collapse of oil rates would also contribute to maintaining the dollar reserves at the Central Bank of Jordan and enhance the purchase power of Jordanians for several months, Shoubaki said.

Al Ghad’s Sabri Rbaihat said that health and safety are two main objectives that we all seek to achieve and maintain. Three hundred years ago, Mary Montagu introduced smallpox vaccine to England after witnessing it during her stay in the Ottoman Empire.

The writer, amid the Kingdom’s effective response to the novel coronavirus crisis, expressed alarm at pausing children, notably newborns, vaccinations. He said that keeping vaccination programmes is more important than resuming the work of vehicle repair shops and allowing taxis to provide delivery services.

Given that the issue of vaccines is a priority for the Health Ministry, the writer said that it was important to remind the organisers with it, as specialists see that the situation may not bear much delay, he added. Rbaihat urged related bodies to develop on-site vaccination services that bring vaccinations to certain spots on specific dates and appointments, as such a move would remind parents, who postponed the vaccinations because of COVID-19, with the importance of this basic health need.

When it comes to vaccines, probably doctors do not want Jordanian children to head to healthcare centers to prevent their contact with un-vaccinated children who came from neighboring countries. Whatever the reasons are, the writer called on the related bodies to find a place for vaccinations on their agenda, which is occupied with coronavirus related issues.  

Ad-Dustour’s Fayez Abu Hmaidan said that US President Donald Trump’s announcement on suspending financial support to the World Health Organisation (WHO) came at the wrong time,  let alone that it is another example of unilateral decisions.

Instead of focusing efforts on battling this pandemic that dramatically hit the US, Trump is trying to divert attention away from the failures in handling the current crisis through taking such a unilateral measure.

Trump stopped financial support claiming that the WHO is biased in favour of China, saying that the health agency, in combating the pandemic, has provided wrong figures in terms of the numbers of infections, which led to slow warning of the risks of the virus.

The writer said that the slow response to dealing with the global crisis, mainly imposing quarantine and stopping all services, notably the industry and production cycles, has been the major factor that contributed to the rapid spread of the infectious disease.

Daily figures show good performance of certain countries, and there is no need to mention these countries, he said, concluding that these indicators also reflect the quality of global health systems and show the harmony between peoples and governments when crises emerge.

Al Ghad’s Mukarram Tarawneh said that returning Jordanian students and others abroad back home is not without its risks, but to see them with their families safe and sound is worth the risk.

Tarawneh said that it is, however, strange and suspicious to see demands that the government incur the expenses of the students’ travel and stay at quarantine hotels circulated around social media soon after Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced that it will not, unless the families were unable to pay.

The writer said that such proposals are unfair, asking why well-off families would not incur the expenses of their children’s return at a time when people, even employees with average incomes, are establishing funds to donate to the government during the suspension of work and production.

The columnist said that it is unreasonable for the government to pay on behalf of people who could afford not only five-star hotels but private jets at times, when it is suffering economically.

He highlighted that due to the inaction of a significant portion of the Kingdom’s wealthy, the government had to use funds from the Social Security Corporation, the people’s money that is, stressing that the well-off earn no sympathy in this context.

Tarawneh said that spending priorities are and will remain for the underprivileged, some of whom have children studying abroad through scholarships and can barely manage their daily allowances, the unemployed, daily wage workers, orphans and residents of remote areas.

He stressed that every piaster the government spends on the ineligible is unfair and comes at the expense of people.

Ad-Dustour’s Sari Qadweh said that Israeli authorities have imprisoned around a fifth of the Palestinian people under its military occupation of their lands.

Qadweh said that in addition to committing murder and torture against Palestinians, Israel insists on imprisoning more than 5,000 Arab and Palestinian prisoners under inappropriate conditions, including impeding the Palestinian government’s anti-COVID-19 measures for Palestinians discriminatorily while applying such measures for Israelis.

He said that Palestinian Prisoners’ Day serves as an opportunity to draw global attention to the racist and terrorist Israeli policies that weaponise COVID-19 against Palestinians inside and outside its prisons.

He said that Israeli authorities purposely expose Palestinian prisoners to COVID-19 positive Israeli intelligence personnel through fabricated investigations, and continue to demolish Palestinians’ homes at a time when the World Health Organisation is urging people to stay home to be safe.

The columnist said that Israel practices procrastination and abuse against Palestinians and uses Palestinian prisoners as political pressure tools to implement the so-called US “deal of the century”.

He highlighted that Israel refuses to implement international agreements regarding Palestinian prisoners or treat them as prisoners of war.

In light of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day and the inhumane Israeli policies regarding them, Qadweh called on the UN, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and all humanitarian organisations to move towards freeing Palestinian prisoners, especially women, children and the elderly.

He stressed that Israel allowing COVID-19 to spread among Palestinian prisoners is a crime against humanity and an act of state terrorism.

Al Ghad’s Mohammad Momani said that hundreds of thousands of daily wage workers in Jordan have lost their daily income due to the imposed curfew.

Momani said that they have been living off small savings and support from family members. He said that due to the suspension of their work, and consequently their income, daily wage workers are exposed to the worst kind of poverty, as they cannot secure food.

The writer said that this great issue invited clear and direct Royal intervention to draw attention to it.

The columnist said that while the government forming committees and establishing funds in support of daily wage workers is good, it is not enough. He added that even supporting the tourism sector, which employs a significant number of them is not enough, because all these measures are unsustainable.

He highlighted that these funds and committees will face two dilemmas that will complicate their work, which are insufficient financing and the lack of accurate information about the workers and their numbers.

Momani said that the solution lies in reopening more economic sectors that employ these workers in accordance with rigorous health requirements. The writer said that the government has commendably responded to demands by opening sectors and linking with the private sector.

He highlighted that indicators to the government’s response to demands include permitting the contractors sector to work, as well as small and big grocery stores and restaurants that provide home delivery services, which all employ daily wage workers. Momani stressed that the calculated reopening of the economy is the solution, not only for daily wage workers, but for society at large.