The draft 2024 budget was presented by the government last week in compliance with constitutional requirements mandating its submission before January’s end each year.
Minister of Finance Mohammad Issis outlined budget details, expressing optimism about the expected achievements, adding to a series of economic successes affirming the Kingdom’s commitment to the years long economic reform process.
The government has expanded its estimates for next year for recurring cash assisstance allocations for next year within the draft budget law, at a value of JD18 million, reaching an estimate of JD280 million in the draft budget, compared to JD244 million recorded as a re-estimate in the 2023 budget.
The 2024 budget favored students from needy and poor families by raising financial allocations for them by 67 percent, to reach approximately JD20 million instead of JD10 million previously.
Economist Muhammad Qaryouti highlighted in an interview with the Jordan News Agency (Petra) several pillars of next year’s budg
et, the most important of which was a projection of a growth rate of 2.7 percent and 3 percent for each of the following two years, and an inflation rate at 2.6 percent that would decrease to 2.5 percent for the next two years. As for revenues, they were estimated at JD10.3 billion, 93 percent of which were local revenues, in addition to government unit revenues which are worth JD852 million, while expected tax revenues would grow at a rate of 10 percent, reaching JD7.2 billion of total local revenues.
Qaryouti pointed out that estimates indicated that 90 percent of current expenditures would be covered by local revenues, noting that this is a good step in focusing on the principle of self-reliance. Additionally, the value of the allocations to the projects of the Economic Modernization Vision and the Public Sector Modernization Roadmap will be raised to JD348 million which reinforces commitment to moving forward with modernization.
He stated that the preparation of the budget coincided with the stabilizati
on of Jordan’s long-term sovereign credit rating from Fitch Agency at the level of (BB-) with a stable future outlook, and also reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a new program for a period of 4 years, with the remaining $1.2 billion directed to economic and structural reforms, which effectively contributes to reducing financing costs over time, as the interest on public debt was estimated at approximately JD2 billion.
Source: Jordan News Agency