PM issues Circular No. 30 on COVID relief schemes

AMMAN — Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh on Monday issued Circular No. 30 of 2021, based on the provisions of Defence Order No. 24 of 2020, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The circular stipulates that voluntary participants in social security schemes who have not previously benefitted from Musaned  (support) programme, regardless of their deductible wage, shall benefit from the said programme and shall be granted an advance payment, amounting to 8 per cent of their total deductible wages, divided into three monthly payments, with a value not exceeding JD400 for each payment.

In regard to the Tamkeen Iqtisadi (economic enablement) programme, insured individuals working in the private sector shall benefit from this programme, provided they are not workers in the banking, insurance and electricity sectors or workers in any establishment exempted by a decision of the General Director of the Social Security Corporation.

Insured individuals whose deductible wage at their last job does not exceed JD1,500, shall benefit from this programme as well.

The aforementioned individuals shall be granted, upon request, an advance single payment as a compensation amounting to 8 per cent of the total deductible wages, with a maximum of JD350 for the Jordanian insured and JD200 for the non-Jordanian insured.

The circular also included amendments to Defence Order No. 24.

The first amendment focused on Jordanian retirees, people from Gaza Strip, and children of Jordanian women whose pension does not exceed JD700.

These groups shall be granted an advance payment of 120 per cent of the net pension, provided that the amount of this payment does not exceed JD200, to be paid over a period of 18 months without bearing any interest, according to Petra.

The second amendment included the SSC allocating a percentage not exceeding 10 per cent of the surplus of the general insurance account of 2021 to fund the advance payments of retirees.

As for the Estidama (sustainability) programme, it will be extended until the end of December 2021.

To support the Estidama programme, the government will allocate an amount of JD50 million to enable the extension, while the SSC will be obligated to bear 50 per cent of the amount of those sums.

Pertaining to supporting workers in the transport and tourism sectors, the maximum funding limit is JD500 per month for each worker in the transport sector and JD1,000 per month for each worker in the tourism sector.

The circular also authorised the SSC General Director to issue the necessary instructions to implement the provisions of this circular.