AMMAN — The middle class in
Jordan has been shrinking
drastically over the past decade, and that negatively impacts the economy and
society, and cause the economy to deteriorate further, experts say.
اضافة اعلان
According to statistics published on the
Jordan News Agency, Petra, website, the middle class in Jordan stood at 28
percent in 2014 (the latest for which statistics are available), compared to 41
percent in 2008.
Professor of sociology
Hussein Al-Khozahe told
Jordan News that the phenomenon should be dealt with seriously; it is
critical because the middle class is a country’s main economic engine and
safety valve.
He added that the middle class does not
participate in social or political life because its “income and energy are
directed toward satisfying its essential needs”.
As Khozahe said, “many will abstain from
marriage and from settling down. So when the middle class becomes poor, there
will be social and
psychological effects as well”.
His Majesty King Abdullah has repeatedly
stressed the importance of expanding the middle class and improving its living
conditions.
The vision for the country, the King said,
“must guarantee to unleash Jordan’s potential to achieve sustainable,
comprehensive growth that doubles job opportunities, expands the middle class,
and improves living conditions to ensure a better quality of life for
citizens”.
Economic analyst Mazen Irsheid told
Jordan
News that economic indicators like the unemployment rate, which, according to
the
Department of Statistics, stands at 23.2 percent, and the poverty line
point at a shrinking middle class.
Even holding jobs does not make the
situation of many people better. “On the contrary, the purchasing power of
individuals and family has shrunk drastically, which is an indicator of how the
middle class is doing,” Irsheid stressed.
Irsheid said that since
Jordan imports
almost 80 percent of its food supplies and 95 percent of its fuel needs, the
middle class is inevitably impacted by the increase in global prices.
“So with time passing, the drastic increase
of the country’s debt, the increase in taxes, the removal of bread and fuel
subsidies in 2014, all resulted in increasing the cost of living on citizens
and a shrinking middle class,” Irsheid said.
“The middle class will continue to shrink if
prices keep on increasing. All of the current indicators reflect further
shrinking of the middle class because our economic policies did not change,” he
stressed.
Economic and investment specialist
Wajdi Makhamreh told
Jordan News that the middle class creates financial balance
because it can spend and consume more, “so any glitch in this balance would
impact the economy and the government’s revenues”.
Makhamreh stressed that the middle class is
in the process of fading away in light of the inflation and the decline in the
growth of some economic sectors like education and health.
“The middle class cannot manage its
financial commitments; many of these families have bank loans and the
purchasing power is declining for the middle class,” Makhamreh said.
Makhamreh and Irsheid also agree that the Jordanian middle
class will be affected the most, in the aftermath of the
Russia-Ukraine war,
since this will impact fuel and wheat prices.
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