AMMAN — Director of Market Control
and Supplies at the
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply Suleiman Al-Saud
said on Monday that the ministry is preparing a plan for monitoring markets
after the government decided to reduce customs tariffs to ensure the
revitalization of the commercial sector, Al-Mamlaka TV.
اضافة اعلان
Finance Minister Mohamed Al-Ississ announced
on Monday that the decision to reduce and unify customs duties on goods will
enter into force next week. All materials, except for Jordanian industry
products in the engineering sector, construction, furniture, and food
industries will be subject to the two categories of customs tariffs, from zero
to 5 percent.
Customs tariffs will come under four categories, zero percent, 5
percent, 15 percent, and 25 percent for the first three years after the decision
comes into force. Then, 25 percent will be reduced to 20 percent for two years,
and 20 percent will become 15 percent in 2027.
“Market monitors spread in all governorates of
the Kingdom will monitor price indicators in order to ensure that these decisions
will reflect positively on the commercial activity by increasing
competitiveness and reducing prices,” said Saud.
He said that the
COVID-19 pandemic and the
accompanying rise in global prices were felt in all countries of the world,
adding that the government took many measures to ensure a good supply of goods.
According to Saud, there is no price ceiling,
but if the government and other concerned authorities find that the decisions
on tariffs do not reflect positively on the citizen, they will be discussed
again.
According to Saud, the Ministry of Industry,
Trade, and Supply is working with the commercial and industrial sector to
ensure that citizens benefit from the new decisions, and the government support
for the industrial sector will continue. He also said that international
agreements Jordan signed opened export markets for Jordanian industries, and
that exempting Jordanian industries production inputs will help ensure they are
competitive.
Sultan Allan, president of Textile and
Readymade Clothes Syndicate, said that the reduction of customs duties and
tariffs on goods announced by the government is bound to reflect on the
consumer, but “there are taxes that have not been decreased, such as sales tax,
and income tax, but customs duties on clothing and shoes were reduced”.
He said that there is intense competition in
the clothing sector, because there about 3,400 importers and about 10,000
retailers.
Allan said: “The citizen should not think that
the commodity itself will decrease by 15 percent, because the components of the
cost of the commodity are transportation, the price of the commodity and sales
tax, and all of this has not decreased.”
Talking about e-commerce in Jordan, Allan
said: “We are not against e-commerce, but we have a problem with a decision
that was issued in 2015 in favor of e-commerce, as an unconventional competitor
that pays 10 percent taxes, so we demand equality with it.”
Prime Minister
Bisher Al-Khasawneh on Sunday
announced that the Cabinet had taken the decision to restructure customs tariff
in order to enhance Jordan’s competitiveness.
He said that “the restructuring is part of a
comprehensive customs reform plan that includes reviewing procedures to
simplify them and ensure that powers are not abused”.
The “central” goal of those decisions,
according to Khasawneh, “is to reduce the final costs on citizens and
facilitate procedures for suppliers and workers in the field of shipping.”
He pointed out that “the general control
reference at the borders will be the General Customs Department, and the rest
of the authorities will work under its umbrella” in an effort to “reduce the
long procedures in which goods are waiting to enter until they obtain the
necessary permit from the control authorities.”
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