Ammon News - A parliamentary memo initiated by MP Khalil Attiya demanded that all essential foodstuffs be exempt from customs duties.

The memorandum, signed by more than 20 deputies, said: "We are coming to the holy month of Ramadan. Some commodities have seen prices rise and are found to be caused by the source and regarding this matter, we request a moratorium on customs duties on all essential food items."

The memorandum read as follows: “We, the undersigned deputies, in view of the unprecedented rise in prices of certain staple foods recently, such as rice, sugar and oil, have found that the main cause was from the source of these substances and the high cost of shipping,”

“Internal actions that can be taken to reduce the cost to the Jordanian consumer include exemption from customs duties and sales tax on vegetable oil, which is the only substance on that has customs duties of 20 per cent and a sales tax of 4 per cent. As we are approaching the holy month of Ramadan, we request a moratorium on customs duties on all essential food items.” the memorandum continued.