AMMAN — The
Parliamentary Finance Committee met with various members of the government on Sunday to discuss a
supplement to the General Budget Law for the year 2021.
اضافة اعلان
The meeting was attended by Minister
of Finance Mohamad Al-Ississ, Minister of Planning and International
Cooperation Nasser Al-Shraideh, Director General of the Income and Sales Tax
Department Hossam Abu Ali, and Director General of the General Budget Department
Amjad Al-Shariqi.
A member of the Finance Committee,
Omar Al-Naber, told Jordan News that supplement includes a US grant worth JD268
million, adding that the MPs discussed with the officials channels of spending
the funds.
"The largest portion of this
grant, as stated in the meeting, was for capital expenses, and an amount will be paid towards
the salaries of 3,000 teachers who will be employed. An amount of JD20 million
will be allocated to spend on training for graduates of the information technology
course," Al-Naber stated.
The lawmaker also pointed out that part of the grant will
be allocated to support segments that affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic. A
further "JD10 million (will be allocated to) Jordan Customs, including JD5
million to capacity building programs targeting the employees and their
training."
The lawmaker clarified that no amount has been allocated to
the health sector, or for the opening of new hospitals or health centers. He
added that the minister of health has now halted the construction of a number
of health centers due to the lack of personnel, and is working on a
reexamination of the Kingdom's need for health centers.
The MP indicated that 20 percent of the total amount was
allocated to emergencies. "This part is not clear because the people have
the right to know what emergency procedures are being spent on, so this point
must be detailed and clarified." According to the deputy, the disbursement
of this grant, in general, has gone in the right direction, especially since a
large part of it has been allocated to capital expenditures.
During the meeting, head of the Finance Committee Nimr
Al-Sulaihat said that the committee will hold a meeting at the end of this
week, to listen to the relevant ministers about the key projects included in
the budget supplement and the implementation plans, while checks and balances
will apply.
For his part, Planning Minister Shraideh stressed that this supplement
does not add any deficit to the state's general budget, explaining that it
includes priority projects for the next stage.
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