Former official Basem Awadallah has been the center of
controversy among the public and the elite, both of whom have often accused him
of having foreign agendas that work against public interest.
اضافة اعلان
Awadallah has previously held high-ranking executive
positions that have allowed him in the past two decades to impose his agenda on
official economic policy during his earlier years, thereby forming a superpower
capable of infiltrating the state’s body and changing its structure under the
guise of “quick reform,” which he sought to achieve in accordance with his own
agenda.
This so-called reform was carried out away from
institutional work and the central monitoring of the Council of Ministers, and
the Lower House.
Awadallah is someone who hates any form of administration
that could obstruct his decisions or thwart policies that he would like to push
through for implementation. Therefore, his presence at various ministries has
been at the center of contention and struggle with various ministers and prime
ministers alike.
From an economic standpoint, the public and the elite view
Awadallah as the figurehead behind the execution of a number of policies and
economic plans that have collectively led to weakening the economy and setting
off deep-rooted malfunctions, which require the Treasury to make considerable
sacrifices to rectify.
The public, spectators, elites and economists hold former
minister Awadallah responsible for hatching the large number of independent
institutions and bodies, which has driven the increase in spending and budget
deficit; all as a result of his desire to transfer the Cabinet’s authorities
into new branched-out administrative authorities held by institutions, which
have become a heavy burden on the state.
There is public consensus that the economic transformation
program Awadallah adopted during has time as planning minister, is one of the
key factors behind weakening the general budget, having created an independent
spending program that operates in parallel to the budget and relies completely
on foreign grants, as well as a portion of privatization returns, which is what
has weakened the budget in favor of aid to the transformation program.
But the greatest risk posed by the transformation program to
the economy has been the introduction of its $1-billion worth of projects into
the general budget, which no longer has the capacity to provide new financial
allocations to subsidize these projects’ operating expenses. This in turn
pushed the then-government to borrow to cover this urgent expense.
The most controversial point in Awadallah’s official career
was the Paris Club deal, which he oversaw despite working as head of the Royal
Court, not at the ministry; whereby he paid to see the deal through.
The Paris Club agreement was highly controversial at the
time, due to its odd form and structure; given that the sum of privatization
returns, which stood JD1.65 billion, went into purchasing part of the
government’s debt at an 11 percent discount; a rate that was seen as excessive
and unreasonable by all measures. Since the deal, debt has been on a dangerous
rise and the economy gained nothing from it.
Awadallah has always grabbed the attention of the public and
elite. His economic and political leanings cannot be separated, for the man now
has hands everywhere and various groups have adopted his rhetoric and style.
I personally consider him the founder of a school of thought
that has created chaos in the management of the economic state that Jordanians
are still paying the price for.
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