Lower House ready to tackle general pardon bill — speaker

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Thursday urged the government to promptly reduce the price of basic commodities, adding that the House is looking to push for expanding expand the terms of the general pardon.

Tarawneh called on the government to include fines, university students’ debts and indebted women in the general pardon, in accordance with His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to alleviate the pressure on citizens.

Tarawneh’s remarks came during a meeting of the House’s Financial Committee with Prime Minister Omar Razzaz and members of the government’s economic team, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ezzeddine Kanakrieh announced the inclusion of 54 more items in the list of tax-reduced goods, which are subject to a 10 per cent cut on sales tax. The list now includes 150 items.

Razzaz said that the government would send the general pardon bill to the House in the coming days after it was endorsed by the Cabinet last Wednesday.

The prime minister said government tried to achieve three principles through the 2019 state budget law: binding the state budget to government priorities by reviewing the impact of every item on the citizenry, focusing on partnerships with the private sector and ensuring financial stability. 

For the first time in decades, current expenditures will be covered from the Treasury’s public revenues, Razzaz noted, highlighting that “this is an important step towards achieving national self-reliance and avoids drawing up plans depending on external factors to ultimately cover all spending through locally-generated revenues.”

Also on Thursday, the Senate’s Financial Committee, chaired by Senate President Faisal Fayez, met with Razzaz and members of the government’s economic team over the 2019 state budget and the budgets of independent public institutions, Petra added.

Fayez stressed the importance of taking effective measures to combat tax evasion, underscoring the need to enact laws to improve the investment environment in the Kingdom.

He also recommended adopting a transparent policy to acquaint citizens with the economic situation and the challenges facing Jordan.