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Ammon News -

Prime Minister, Bisher Khasawneh, said that the government is committed to submitting a draft law regulating the investment environment to the Lower House of Parliament in April.

Speaking to a cabinet meeting held Sunday, the Prime Minister said: "The draft law is fundamental, important and is part of our march aimed at moving to implementation stages through which we will overcome a decade of challenges, during which the rate of economic growth hasn't exceeded 2 per cent."

He added: "We were hit by the Covid-19 crisis, which we were able to overcome, and we are now in the recovery stage, despite the challenges imposed on supply chains and the high prices of basic commodities and oil as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis."

Khasawneh noted that despite these challenges, Jordan has achieved many good economic indicators, including key credit ratings from international rating agencies, which were either affirmed or raised, reflecting the resilience, safety and solidity of the Jordanian economy and its prudent management.

In this regard, he referred to several decisions that were taken previously that proved effective, including the long-term contracting of gas agreements, which saved the treasury about $1.2 billion last year and about $350 million in the first four months of this year.

"Today, thanks to prudent policies, we have a record number of foreign currency assets of the Central Bank, which amounts to nearly $17 billion, an unprecedented number in our history," the Prime Minister revealed.

He stressed that all targets in the general budget for the past year were achieved with regard to general revenue, with more than 104 per cent achieved in target revenue."

The Prime Minister pointed out that "we began achieving economic growth that indicates recovery."

He said: "We presented a general budget to the Lower House that didn't include increasing any taxes because we stand on a solid and coherent ground to achieve greater rates of economic growth."

As an evidence of the confidence in the Jordanian economy, the Prime Minister added, is the demand for investment in Jordan and the agreements that have been signed with sister countries and investment funds such as the agreements between the Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) and the Abu Dhabi Ports and the agreements that are currently underway with the Saudi Investment Fund. In addition to the interest from many international bodies to invest in the mining sector, pointing out to several memoranda of understanding approved by the Cabinet in this regard previously.

Khasawneh further added: "based on this integrated process, we should present a draft law regulating the investment environment to enable everyone who wishes to come to Jordan on the basis of trust that he sees through the ratings of international institutions on the Jordanian economy's resilience and its growth prospects."

He expressed the government's commitment to submit the draft law to the Lower House for discussion and approval by the Parliament "and then the government would move towards achieving economic growth based on our stable financial and economic conditions and to reflect them with higher growth rates, empowering the private sector as a key partner in development and attracting foreign investment that produces jobs, leading to radical approaches and treatments to solve unemployment."

He referred to the international confidence indicated by various reviews by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "for our national structural reform program," stressing that the IMF conducted three reviews in the past two years, all of which were very successful.

Khasawneh also stressed that the World Bank indicated that the Jordanian economy was the most resilient in the region in dealing with the Russian-Ukrainian crisis impacts, pointing out that this is due to the policies adopted by Jordan based on the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah to create a strategic stockpile of wheat and barley for more than a year.

The Prime Minister said the government is looking forward to the document emanating from the economic workshop hosted by the Royal Hashemite Court, in cooperation and partnership with the government, to develop a cross-governmental road map, which would contribute to a qualitative leap towards real treatments to the unemployment challenge and achieve economic growth based on reliability in the national economy.