Ammon News - The Parliamentary Finance Committee on Sunday approved the draft public budget law for the 2026 fiscal year, following the conclusion of its discussions, which spanned 104 meetings from November 25 to December 7.

The discussions saw the participation of all ministries, departments and government units covered by the budget.

Committee chair MP Mimer Sleihat said the committee conducted an in-depth technical review that analysed budget items, assessed the impact of public spending and evaluated key economic indicators.

The committee examined the effects of 230 government decisions on economic and social conditions and reviewed allocations for social safety nets.

He commeded Speaker of the House of Representatives Mazen Qadi for his support, MPs and journalists who followed the committee's work.

During a press conference, Sleihat outlined the committee's key recommendations, including:

Reassessing the sales tax to account for its impact on people's incomes and increasing reliance on low-interest external financing.

Raising salaries of military and civil sector employees and retirees in line with cumulative inflation; tightening controls on the disbursement of the JD 60 million emergency allocations to ensure they are used only for essential needs; and obligating banks to reverse interest rate reductions as quickly as they reinstate increases.

Conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the impact of halting prior auditing and establishing clear criteria for classifying entities subject to oversight before withdrawing them from prior audit procedures.

The committee called for diversifying tourism programs in less-visited areas, linking them to overnight stays and low-cost flights, expanding cultural tourism for Arab visitors, developing tourist sites gradually and launching public–private partnership projects.

Recommendations further included training and qualifying teachers in BTec programmes and expanding their application; directing universities toward technical and future-oriented specialisations; expanding vocational training to international standards, especially for the German labour market; and supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in technology and artificial intelligence.

The committee stressed completing the digital transformation plan, fully digitising government services and developing AI infrastructure.

Additional recommendations included unifying support programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises, launching new programmes after assessing existing challenges, supporting rural productive projects under a single framework, establishing an investor protection unit, following up on outcomes of His Majesty's visits to maximise investment opportunities and preparing feedback on the investment environment law to further enhance it.

The committee said its approval of the draft budget is based on a comprehensive technical assessment aimed at enhancing public spending efficiency, improving services and supporting economic growth goals expected to positively impact citizens and the national economy.