Category: General

The Lower House on Thursday continued deliberations over the 2022 draft state budget and the 2022 draft budgets of independent public institutions.

In a morning session, headed by Speaker Abdulkarim Dughmi, in the presence of Prime Minister Dr. Bisher Khasawneh and Cabinet members, Dughmi announced the Lower House will vote on the two budget bills next Sunday, after hearing the government’s response to the MPs’ remarks.

In their deliberations, deputies touched on the “alarming” rates of poverty and unemployment, the “eroded” Jordanian family income, the “declining” purchasing value of the Jordanian dinar, amid uncertainty about Covid-19 pandemic and its repercussions on various sectors.

The MPs also referred to the increasing budget deficit and rising public debt, amid fears price of goods and services will increase again in 2022, despite the government’s pledges to avoid tax hikes in the 2022 budget.

In addition, the MPs voiced support for the efforts of Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) Arab Army and security apparatuses to counter terrorism and criminal gangs.

Moreover, the MPS called on ministries to adopt a five- and ten-year plans, revamp oil derivatives’ pricing regulations, revisit the fixed fuel tax, better exploit natural resources, improve investment climate, issue a general pardon and support farmers.

To help solve economic woes, the lawmakers called on the private sector to establish national projects that contribute to achieve “real” growth and provide job opportunities.

They also called on the government to exempt Covid-19 pandemic-hit individuals and companies from tax and improve road, school and health infrastructure.

Next Sunday morning, the House is scheduled to continue debate of the two budget bills, after 67 deputies spoke during the past four days, while 21 MPs made interventions on Thursday.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Health announced Thursday that 21,460 Covid-19 cases as well as 22 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, raising the caseload from the pandemic to 1,417,890 and the death toll to 13,431.

The ministry said in the daily brief issued jointly with the Prime Ministry that 29.42 percent of 72,951 PCR tests collected across the country came back positive.

It said that the number of currently active cases stood at 187,347, including 276 patients that were admitted today to hospitals, raising the number of cases now hospitalized to 1,232.

On the capacity of hospitals, the figures showed that the occupancy rate of isolation beds in the northern region was 25 percent, intensive care beds 35 percent and respirators 14 percent.

In the central region, 32 percent of isolation beds were occupied, intensive care beds occupancy was 45 percent and respirators 19 percent, it said.

In the southern region, the occupancy rate of isolation beds was 16 percent, intensive care beds 13 percent and respirators 10 percent, according to the ministry’s figures.

It also reported that 17,781 Covid patients have recovered, bringing the expected total recoveries after the end of the 14-day isolation period to 1,217,112.

The daily brief put the number of people who got the first dose of Covid vaccines at 4,630,300 and those who were double vaccinated at 4,294,730.

Source: Jordan News Agency

A security force on Thursday arrested a “wanted” suspect, labeled as dangerous and armed, in an area west of Balqa governorate, during a raid on his whereabouts.

In a press statement, media spokesperson for the Public Security Directorate (PSD) said the suspect had killed a person months ago and injured another due to disputes, and then disappeared from public sight until today.

An investigation team, tasked to crack the months-long case, identified the killer’s place and arrested him in a raid, in possession of two firearms, the spokesperson added.

The PSD affirmed its “firm and continuous efforts to counter crime, huntdown perpetrators and hand them over to justice without complacency or discrimination, regardless of their attempts to hide their crimes or vanish from public view.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Board of Directors of the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) on Thursday discussed with the Guinean non-resident ambassador to Jordan, Soriba Camara, ways to enhance trade relations and role of private sector institutions in this regard.

According to an ACC statement, the chamber’s board affirmed interest of Jordan’s trade and service sector in increasing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries, raising the coordination level and exchanging commercial data.

The ACC board also voiced readiness to contact its Guinea counterpart to increase the cooperation level, the statement added.

In addition, the board members also highlighted the importance of benefiting from Jordan’s current free trade agreements (FTAs) with several parties and countries, including the European Union, Arab nations, America and Canada, and boosting the two countries’ investor trade relations.

Speaking at the meeting, the ACC Vice-President, Nabil Khatib, stressed the importance of signing a memorandum of understanding between the ACC and its Guinea counterpart to launch “stronger” joint cooperation in the commercial fields, pointing to the “weak” trade exchanges between the two countries.

For his part, the envoy stressed the need to move forward in increasing joint economic cooperation in various fields, particularly minerals, the telecom sector and agricultural products.

The diplomat also expressed hope to sign a memorandum of understanding between the ACC and Conakry Chamber of Commerce and exchange trade delegations’ visits.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Investment is keen to provide an “attractive” environment by following up on investment projects, identifying investors’ needs and providing “practical” solutions to their obstacles, Minister of Investment, Khairy Amr, said.

Speaking at a meeting held on Thursday, with development companies’ CEOs of Jordan’s free and developmental zones, Amr said services, which are provided to the zones’ investment projects, are being “continuously” improved, to create a competitive climate and spare investors’ time and effort.

Amr also stressed the importance of working to overcome all challenges facing those investment projects.

In addition, Amr called on the main developer of any development zone in the Kingdom to enhance its operations and establish, manage and maintain the necessary facilities and services for this purpose, including the road, electricity, water, telecom and sewage infrastructure.

Noting the impact of continuously improving investment environment on attracting more investors, he stressed the importance of learning about strengths in Jordan’s investment field and promoting privileges.

This approach, he noted, tops Ministry of Investment’s plans to attract more investments, which would create jobs and improve national economy.

Amr also stressed the need to “orchestrate investment efforts, in cooperation with partners in Jordan’s development, free and industrial zones, viewed as key drivers in attracting investment, which would have a tangible impact on the investor.”

Source: Jordan News Agency

90% of the Covid-19 infections recorded daily are caused by the new “Omicron” strain, which is the dominant mutation in the fourth wave that the Kingdom is witnessing, Adviser to the Prime Minister for Health Affairs and the Corona file, Dr. Adel Balbisi, said.

In an interview with “Petra” on Thursday, Balbisi noted 116,000 injuries were recorded during the last 6 days, adding that Omicron-related hospital admissions reach 1% of the total Covid-19 cases.

Omicron severity is “lower” than the previous mutations, which recorded hospital admissions with 5% of overall Covid-19 infections, while Omicron-related hospitalizations stand at 1%, warning against laxity in implementing preventive procedures, in light of the Omicron spread, he pointed out.

Compliance to anti-Covid-19 protocols will reduce the number of hospital admissions that exceed 200 daily, as the fourth wave is witnessing a drop in the number of deaths, compared to the previous waves, he noted.

Balbisi also expected that the peak infections will be in the fourth wave next week, hoping that infections will drop and jordan’s epidemiological curve indicators will stabilize.

On the national anti-Covid-19 immunization program, he said the vaccination rate of the target group over the age of 18 for the first dose reached 72%, the 2nd dose at 66%, while recipients of the third jab amounted to 465,000 , as its number is “relatively low.”

In this regard, he called on taking the third dose for its effectiveness and its impact on raising immunity against the Covid-19 and its mutants.

A total of 194,000 received the Covid-19 vaccine from the age group of 12 to 17 years, including 14,000 students, carried out as part of the vaccination campaign that began on January 23 in schools, he noted.

There was no change in the quarantine periods for Covid-19 patients, he noted, stressing that the quarantine time for symptomless patients is 7 days, while symptom-related cases spend 10 days, based on the date of administering the Covid-19 test, according to Balbisi.

Regarding results of PCR tests, he noted majority emerge within 24 hours, indicating that the delay in some cases is due to the “large” number of daily tests, which amount to approximately 75,000.

Source: Jordan News Agency