‘JD214,000 saved in 2015 by campaigns to combat illegal use of subsidised flour’

AMMAN — By intensifying inspection campaigns on violating bakeries and wheat mills, the Industry, Trade and Supply Ministry saved around JD214,000 in 2015, a ministry official said on Thursday.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Yanal Barmawi, said the campaigns aimed at eliminating waste and ensuring that bakeries do not use subsidised flour “unlawfully” such as selling it to merchants or using it to produce other unsupported products with liberalised prices.

The official said a technical committee of specialised engineers at the ministry will re-evaluate the needs of all bakeries across the Kingdom and change the allocated quantities of subsidised flour accordingly.  

“The ministry will also employ a system for electronically tracing the load of wheat-and-flour-laden trucks,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone.    

In 2015, the country’s consumption of wheat exceeded 900,000 tonnes, with the cost of wheat flour subsidies reaching around JD160 million, Barmawi said, expecting the cost to increase in 2016 to JD163 million due to the increase in consumption.    

He cited a 20 per cent increase in Jordan’s consumption of wheat over the past five years, a matter he attributed to the increase in population over that period, particularly the influx of Syrian refugees.

The latest population census puts the Kingdom’s population at 9.5 million, of whom 1.26 million are Syrians.

Barmawi said there will be no changes to subsidies in the near future, adding that any means for providing subsidies will not increase bread prices over 16 piasters per kilogramme for Jordanians.

Prices for non-Jordanians will not be altered anytime soon, according to the official, who noted that several studies and visions for other support mechanisms have been under negotiation.

Stressing that the ministry will continue its “intensified” inspection campaigns, Barmawi said Jordan’s reserves of wheat and barley cover the country’s needs for a year.