Industry sector leaders meet PM after boycott

AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Saturday said his government is not targeting the industrial sector, which employs around 250,000 Jordanians who support more than 1 million people.

The premier made the remarks during a meeting with the president and members of the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) as well as representatives of the key sector, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Industrialists boycotted a recent meeting with Ensour, citing government policies that have “worsened” their problems. 

Fathi Jaghbir, a JCI board member and vice chairman of the Amman Chamber of Industry, recently told The Jordan Times that over the past two years, sector representatives have been trying to meet the premier to brief him on the woes facing factories in Jordan but to no avail. 

During Saturday’s meeting, Ensour said turbulent regional conditions have deeply harmed the country’s key sectors, especially industry, pledging a “real” partnership with the private sector to solve Jordan’s economic problems.

He added that the issue of electricity tariffs is not just related to actual costs, but in finding a solution to the distorted subsidy system, according to Petra.

Jordanian industries are facing a competitiveness problem because neighbouring oil-producing countries sell electricity to their industrial sectors at cheaper prices, Petra quoted the premier as saying.

Ensour also promised to examine industrialists’ demands of a 1 per cent tax exemption on imports, giving national exports added benefits and reconsidering a previous government decision to close commercial bureaus abroad, according to Petra.