‘MPs, gov’t work on solving women’s debts, university students’ loans’

AMMAN — The Lower House and the government have reached an understanding on the need to find ways to cover the accumulated debts of women and university students, the Chamber’s speaker said.

During a press conference on Tuesday, House Speaker Atef Tarawneh said that the issue of the gharimat (indebted women) and students’ loans is a common concern of MPs and the government, adding that both sides have discussed a set of proposals to address the issue, including the establishment of a fund for that purpose. 

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson Jumana Ghunaimat has recently said that an amount of JD500,000 had been allocated to resolve part of the indebted women problem, and a new payment will be provided this month.

She pointed out that vulnerable indebted women are given priority, along with those serving time in jail and then those who have been sentenced but not yet imprisoned. On the issue of the support fund for defaulted students, she pointed out that the government has formulated a plan to resolve this problem.

Tarawneh told reporters that the majority of deputies want to exclude crimes of grave economic harm to the country, premeditated murder and terrorist acts from the general pardon draft law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The speaker said that most MPs also want to include all traffic penalties in the general pardon law as well as small farmers’ debts “all in line with the bill’s objectives which seek to alleviate citizens’ financial burdens”.

Tarawneh also said that the House intends to ease the penalty on crimes not included in the general pardon law, according to Petra.

He also said that the House will begin its deliberations over the draft law next Sunday.