AMMAN — A draft
investment law recently released
by the government should take into consideration the high production costs to
keep pace with international legislation and attract a flow of foreign capital
into the Kingdom, experts contended.
اضافة اعلان
Jordanian businessmen have long argued that
production costs are high, higher than other countries in the region, because
of the high energy bill, raw material, and high taxes levied by the government.
Fathi Al-Jaghbir, the head of the
Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry, said that attracting investment will not take place “if production
costs are not addressed properly”.
He explained that “the draft law in its current
proposed form does not provide anything substantial on the production costs,
and it might be much better if the observations submitted by the chambers of
industry were taken into account.”
“What I received verbally is that more than 60–70
percent of the comments of the chambers of industry were taken into
consideration, and this is a precedent that we got the chance to be consulted
before the draft law goes to Parliament,” he told
Jordan News.
Jaghbir said there was another opportunity to
discuss the draft law, when it goes to parliament.
“It is necessary to discuss the draft law after we see
the amended version of it since discussing the old version will not be useful,”
he said.
Musa Al-Saket, an industry and investment
specialist, said that the law should focus on the reduction of high production
costs.
He stressed that the new investment law should be
modern and that it should keep pace with the changed times, and the need to
attract investors. He said that the previous laws were “bureaucratic and
hampering investment”.
Saket pointed out that the
Investment Commission,
which has been transformed now into the Ministry of Investment, “does not have
powers”.
“Its role is limited to being a mediator and
facilitator” between the various government ministries, he said.
He insisted on the importance of attracting
investment through a modern law that achieves the vision of the 10-year
Economic Modernization Vision, launched on June 7, and constitutes a roadmap
across the government. It calls, among other things, for modernizing laws to
attract investments.
Tarek Hijazi, the managing director of the
Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA), said that “production costs, including energy
costs, tax changes, return on investment costs are still very high and are not
clear in the draft law”.
“They are too high and fluctuating, and as a result, many
investors left Jordan in the past,” he pointed out.
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