AMMAN — Amendments in a draft bill regulating the
investment environment are a good step forward, but insufficient to lure a flow
of capital into the Kingdom, pundits contended.
اضافة اعلان
They said the amendments still left the door open
for bureaucracy, nepotism, and red tape and failed to offer clear incentives
for local and foreign investors.
Last Saturday, the
Lower House/Economic and
Investment Committee, along with the government’s economic team, approved the
amendments in the draft regulating the investment environment for the year
2022.
Committee head Khair Abu Sailek said that the
committee approved the draft after a meticulous review of all its articles and
consultation with various experts in the sector. He lauded the changes, saying
additional incentives were offered to businessmen wishing to set up shop
outside the industrial free zones across the Kingdom.
Yusuf Mansur, a former minister of economic affairs,
said that the amendments fell short of achieving the purpose, specifically to
look appealing to investors. He also insisted that the amended draft law is
still vague.
Nevertheless, Mansur added that there are some
improvements in the draft, such as Article 10, which increased the exemption
period for economic activities to five years, instead of three, from the
starting date of the operation.
“But, they are still missing the point,” Mansur
said, referring to shortcomings in the draft’s incentives.
He said that increasing the exemption period to five
years iwill be ineffective in attracting investors to less developed zones in
the Kingdom, “simply because they have nothing. They will not find a quality of
life there, so investors will gravitate to Amman as usual.”
“It has not worked in the past, so it will not work
now,” Mansur added.
Tariq Hijazi, director-general of the
Jordanian Businessmen Association, said that his group was grateful for taking part in
meetings to amend the draft. He noted that 80 percent of its recommendations
were taken into account.
He said that it would be comforting to the investors
to increase the exemption to five years, up from three. “Whatever will come in
the regulations will be according to the investor’s expectations,” he said.
He cited other incentives offered to investors, such
as a 30-percent reduction in income tax offered to business opening in less developed
areas across the Kingdom. That, according to Hijazi, is a positive commitment
by the government.
He said other welcome developments in the draft
include the addition of the minister of entrepreneurship to the investment
council, and an increase in the number of women participating in the workforce,
calling the changes a significant step forward.
Hijazi said that the amendments are starting to
become positive. “I hope they will continue on this path to produce a modern
law that will allow us to compete with neighboring countries,” he proclaimed.
But Hijazi noted that the current amendments did not
fully reflect His Majesty King Abdullah’s recommendations and aspirations under
the Royally-sponsored economic modernization vision.
Majdi Hashlamoun, president and chairman of the
Investors Association, said the draft contains many upgrades that are in the
interest of investors.
“We cannot call them strengths or weaknesses,” he
told
Jordan News, adding that there “is always room for modernization
and development.”
Economist Mazen Irsheid said the addition of banning
any personal benefits for the members of the incentives committee is a positive
step. But the concept of an incentives committee is still negative because the
whole point is to decrease the investment process and bureaucracy, which is
still not achieved.
He said that the incentives should be clear and
included in the law so every investor is aware of what he would be receiving
from the start.
Irsheid pointed out
a semi-positive change like increasing the exemption period for economic
activities to five years, but noted that the incentive in general remains
unclear.
Another
positive step, Irsheid added, is the benefits and incentives added to every
region in the kingdom, not only in specific development zones, where businesses
will include a minimum number of women in the workforce — which never existed
previously.
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