Government ready with budget speech

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday discussed and endorsed the 2018 budget speech that will be presented before the Lower House on Sunday.

The Constitution stipulates that the government present draft laws of the general budget and budgets of independent government units to the Parliament at least one month before the beginning of the fiscal year.

The 2018 budget speech outlines challenges of the national economy and their repercussions on the economic performance in 2017, which mainly includes low economic growth rates, high unemployment rates and serious repercussions of hosting Syrian refugees, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The speech also highlights the additional procedures implemented by the government in 2017 related to the continued reform process that adopts financial control policies, rationalising expenditure and enhancing local revenues. 

The Cabinet on Sunday okayed the draft state budget law for 2018, with a foreseen increase in the domestic revenues to cover 98.9 per cent compared with 92.5 per cent in 2017.
According to the draft, the domestic revenues are estimated at JD8.496 billion, of which JD7.796 billion comes from domestic sources and JD700 million from foreign grants.

The budget planners also see a slight expansion of 3.2 per cent in spending and an estimated deficit of JD688 million. In figures, public spending for next year is estimated to reach JD9.039 billion, up by JD572 million over public expenditure reestimated for 2017, including JD7.886 billion as current spending and JD1.153 billion as capital expenditures.