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Ammon News - Local revenue jumped by a staggering JD795 million in the first half of the current year to a total of JD3.708 billion, indicating an increase of 27.3 percent from the figure reported in the same period in 2020, Jordan News Agency Petra reported.

According to Ministry of Finance's data released Tuesday, the remarkable growth in domestic revenue is driven by a JD482.7 million, or 26.6 percent, increase in tax revenue and a JD312.3 million, or 54.7 percent, spike in non-tax revenue, in addition to the efforts exerted by the ministry and the Income and Sales Tax Department to crackdown on tax evasion and avoidance, expand the tax base and improve voluntary tax commitment, as reported by Petra.

The ministry indicated that capital spending during the first half of the current year hiked by JD174.6 million, or 82.8 percent, compared to the same period last year.

The ratio of capital spending to public expenditures also increased during the first half of this year, reaching 8 percent, compared to 7 percent and 5 percent during the same period for the years 2019 and 2020, respectively.

The actual capital spending, the ministry pointed out, constituted 34.5 percent of the estimated figure in the public budget, against 25 percent and 17 percent during the same period of 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The actual capital spending for this year, it said, is higher than the actual average spending in previous years, which amounted to 30 percent. The ministry also explained that spending on capital projects is usually larger during the third and fourth quarters of the year as projects often begin during these periods.

On the debt side, preliminary data showed that the ratio of general debt to the estimated Gross Domestic Product for this year amounted to 74.4 percent, compared to 73 percent in 2020.