The relative improvement in local revenue to the public
budget does not mean we are on a path to economic recovery. The spike in tax
revenue has its causes but those may not last long if economic growth remains
poor. Jordan’s economic issues are far deeper than would be resolved through
the growth of a secondary sector.
اضافة اعلان
Even the revenue generated through tax collections may not
serve the investment process, but rather exacerbate the growing burden of
public spending, which grows heavier every month, while lacking real economic
return. An increase in tax revenue will only go towards paying salaries, pay
raises, and the payment of pointless irrational financing expenses, which is to
say they will neither benefit the economic nor the Treasury.
To this day, we have not found solutions to chronic economic
deformities, and a stagnant government that plague the economy. Even though the
government has been in power for eight months, the economy does not seem to
have a clear economic agenda. It is as if the government is so occupied by the
pandemic, it has become incapable of taking the kind of economic action needed
to face the pressing challenges at hand. These challenges require a clear
economic program, one that the government has yet to develop as it has yet to
offer indications that it has been addressing different economic difficulties.
Barring the
International Monetary Fund’s reform program,
the government lacks an economic action plan, which points to the possibility
of growing social and economic woes that have yet to come, unless the
government stands against them through clear agendas. Modest economic growth
requires in-depth discussions with the private sector to reach a joint, twofold
vision. The first fold would be concerned with eliminating obstacles that
hinder the growth of the private sector’s expansion and survival. The second
would foster the private sector’s role in employment by preparing a system of
incentives and conditional facilities.
Unemployment is society’s biggest nightmare at the moment
and constitutes a real threat to its stability, given the public sector’s
inability to recruit and the limited scope of recruitment within the private
sector. This demands nationwide action by the government, which could take the
form of a vocational training plan led by the private sector that could receive
facilities and incentives in return, fostering its ability to recruit
Jordanians instead of expatriates.
The Kingdom’s investment environment is still governed by
ambiguity and is in dire need of direct and heavy intervention from the
government to instigate a sound shift, and eliminate the complexities that
continue to take a toll on its structure and administrative procedures.
It is the government’s job to take confident steps to face
obstacles standing in the way of reform. The first of these steps is to assess
and enforce accountability when it comes to official business and ensuring that
the law takes its course.
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