What if they return?

Al Rai’s Issam Qadamani said that tourism and expatriates are Jordan’s petrol, wondering whether they will be running dry for a while.

As for tourism, it took a lethal hit, from which it will not recover before the middle of 2021 at best, Qadamani said, wondering where the Kingdom will be after the return of thousands of expatriates whose contacts have ended or been terminated due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The writer said that it is difficult to count all those whose work have ended or was ended in the Arab Gulf countries and elsewhere, but it is not difficult to expect their imminent forced return.

He said that the government must prepare for these expectations; stressing that it must not be too happy about the return of expatriates under the banner of reviving the economy when they bring back their saving and expertise.

Some compare the benefits of the return of expatriates after the first Gulf War and following wars to the current situation, but they must be reminded that the key difference is that Jordan did not host 1,200,000 Syrian refugees at the time, the columnist remarked.

Qadamani said that transfers from Jordanians working abroad amounted to $3.7 billion in 2019, highlighting that the return will cost Jordan these transfers, which are a source of foreign currencies to the Central Bank of Jordan and funding tributaries to investment and imports.