AMMAN –
Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh urged ministries
and competent authorities on Sunday to take the appropriate steps to address
the potential inflationary impacts on the Jordanian market as a result of
Israel's ongoing
war on Gaza and the situation in the Red Sea, Al-Mamlaka TV
reported.
اضافة اعلان
"15 percent of the volume of international trade passes
through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and due to the ongoing Israeli aggression
against [Palestinians] in the Gaza Strip, regional developments have taken
place that some transport companies see as posing risks to their continued
crossing through the strait," Khasawneh said during a Cabinet session.
According to international estimates, as well as estimates
from the
Ministry of Transport and the
Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply,
the cost of transport trucks from Southeast Asia has increased by 160-170
percent, and in many cases by 60-100 percent for trucks and containers from
North America and Europe. Furthermore, the cost of insuring imported items has
risen.
According to Khasawneh, if this condition persists, it would
have an inflationary effect because the commercial and industrial sectors
operate based on lawful profit. As a result, they will represent expenses with
profit margins, and any increase is likely to be reflected in the prices of
goods and commodities. "Because the merchant, and rightfully so, does not
perform a social function but rather works on the basis of profit," he
went on to say.
The Prime Minister emphasized that the vast majority of the
private business, industrial, and tourism sectors have always been highly
responsible and have agreed that profit margins should be appropriate.
"Our duty is to try to mitigate some of the
inflationary aspects through measures that will lead to reducing them with
regard to price differences," the
prime minister went on to say.
He stated that he had tasked the Deputy Prime Minister for
Economic Affairs, as well as the Ministers of Finance and Transport, with
providing their perspectives on what we can offer "not within the
framework of financing windows because we do not have these financing windows
in the context of our commitments and financial capabilities, and the general
policy of the state that does not provide general subsidies, but rather support
towards the needy citizen and not support for comrades."
He went on to say, "Perhaps we have means to mitigate
this inflationary effect by adopting a measure similar to the measure we
adopted during the Corona pandemic regarding setting a customs ceiling on the
value of incoming containers based on their price and the ceiling that was in
place before October 7 of last year."
He emphasized that the Jordanian Armed Forces - the Arab
Army (JAF) have committed to providing basic commodities in the Military
Service Consumer Corporation markets at their existing pricing, especially as
the holy month of Ramadan approaches.
He also asked the Ministers of Industry, Trade, Supply, and
Transport to guarantee that the situation is monitored and that shipping
movements are regular. He stated that the regularity of shipping to the Port of
Aqaba has not been significantly affected, implying that the regularity of
maritime traffic is still in place, albeit with delays caused by many shipping
companies' decisions to avoid the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and instead travel to
the Cape of Good Hope. This causes trucks to be delayed rather than completely
stopped.
He also mentioned that work is being done to establish
alternate solutions within the scope of what are known as "feeder
lines," while emphasizing that the regularity of product arrival is still
in place and there are no restrictions. Some companies whose ships stopped
sailing through the Bab al-Mandeb route began to reverse this decision a few
days ago, but what we are discussing is the potential inflationary effect that
may affect us due to large increases in shipping and insurance costs, which
merchants usually reflect legitimately on the prices of goods.
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