AMMAN — A
Lower House committee and the
government’s economic team approved amendments to a 2022 draft bill, which will
regulate the investment environment in Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
Saturday’s approval sets the stage for
the amended draft to be returned to the full 130-seat Lower House of Parliament
for endorsement.
Here are some highlights on the changes.
Article 9: The
Council of Ministers,
upon the recommendation of the Incentives and Exemptions Committee, will issue
a schedule that includes fixed assets, production requirements and inputs, and
spare parts necessary for the exercise of economic activity subject to tax at
zero percent in the regions that the law specifies.
Article 10: Despite what was stated in
the income tax law, there will be an exemption from the income tax by no less
than 30 percent on economic activities in the less developed regions in the
Kingdom, or projects that employ at least 250 Jordanians, which will be
applicable for a maximum period of five years from the date of actual
operation.
The committee also approved an article
about providing a comprehensive investment service for licensing economic
activities and completing related transactions. Additionally, the committee
added a progressive text prohibiting any official entity from asking the
investor to submit a valid document issued by another official entity, in case
both were linked electronically.
The committee also reformulated the
draft investment map in the Kingdom, which the Ministry of Investment will undertake
the task of carrying out, to become as follows: Preparing the draft investment
map for the Kingdom according to sectors and governorates that identify
available investment opportunities, including partnership projects with the
private sector, in coordination and cooperation with the concerned authorities,
provided that the update is carried out continuously.
The incentives and
exemptions committee is formed by the Council of Ministers, among its members,
provided that it includes in its membership the ministers of investment,
planning, international cooperation, industry, trade, supply, and finance. The
committee added a text prohibiting any member of the incentives and exemptions
committee from participating in making any decision related to economic
activity, investment fund, or joint investment fund s in which he and his
spouses or relatives - up to the second degree - obtain a direct or indirect
benefit. Furthermore, each of them must disclose any benefits that may accrue
under penalty of legal liability.
It also approved the article that allows
the Council of Ministers, upon the recommendation of the Incentives and
Exemptions Committee, to adopt any incentives, advantages, or exemptions for
economic activities in any region of the Kingdom. It will include exemptions
and incentives related to the price of the sale or rent allowance for lands
owned by the public treasury to establish economic activities. In addition, it
called for supporting the costs of energy and water, renewable energy projects,
and allowing investors to deduct the costs of installing infrastructural
services that they have connected to the economic activity from the
receivables, in case the project is operated within a certain period and
granting tax or customs exemptions or reductions in return for employing a
minimum number of Jordanian workers.
The committee added a text specifying
the criteria that must be taken into account in granting incentives and
benefits in a way that does not affect fair competition: Employing not less
than 350 Jordanians, of them 50 are Jordanian women. Also, in economic
activities targeting export markets, an investor must employ 50 percent of
women in the workforce besides hiring women at the local value activities with
a percentage of not less than 50 in activities aimed at transferring knowledge
and technology, digital transformation, strategic economic activities, and
activities included in public-private partnership projects.
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