AMMAN – On Wednesday, the Parliamentary
Financial Committee stated that Jordan has seen a decline in the international
community's response to its UN role in raising contributions and bearing the
burdens of refuge, as it "did not cover the annual cost" after
covering 22.3 percent of Jordan's total requirements to respond to the Syrian
crisis.
اضافة اعلان
By the end of November 2023, the volume of
financing for the Syrian crisis response plan had reached $508 million, with a
financing rate of 22.3 percent, Al-Mamlaka TV reported.
It stated in its report, the draft general
budget law for 2024, that "despite not covering the annual cost and its
decline" year after year, the reaction "did not cover the annual
cost."
According to the committee's report, the
response to the Syrian refugee crisis cost JD359 million last year, which was
distributed to $243 million to support the refugees, accounting for 67.7
percent of the total value of the response, confirming that each host received
JD13.5 per month when divided by the total number of refugees.
Out of the $2.276 billion in plan
requirements, the committee explained that contributions to host community
projects totaled JD94 million, or 26.1 percent of the response's value, in
addition to JD22 million for general budget support, or 6.1 percent.
The committee stated that it did a
cost-response analysis, and its findings show that the energy sector's support
for the refugees amounted to JD240 million over two years, while the cost of
hosting the students is close to JD150 million per year.
According to the report, "the
contribution to covering the cost of the refugees is close to JD15 annually at
a rate of JD1.3 per month," dividing the value of the response to the
treasury, which amounted to JD22 million, by the number of refugees.
Regarding unemployment, the committee stated
that the refugee crisis, particularly the Syrian refugee crisis, contributed to
rising unemployment rates, despite the international community's contribution
to the response to the cost of refuge for host communities or the World Bank's
contribution, even once, to increase national aid for deserving families.
According to the results of the third quarter
of last year, Jordan's unemployment rate reached 22.3 percent, a 0.8 percent
decrease from 2022, when unemployment rates among males were 19.8 percent, a
0.7 percent decrease, and females were 31.7 percent, a 1.4 percent decrease.
The committee estimates that there are 90,000
registered and unregistered Syrian workers, and despite the government's
incentive to symbolically issue work permits, the main justification for not
doing so was the concern that international organizations would stop providing
cash assistance to refugees.
It stated that the official employment rate
does not cover 28 percent of Syrian families' labor needs, confirming that the
Syrian employment rate, if available to Jordanian citizens, will contribute to
lowering the unemployment rate to 12 percent and providing an annual income of
JD686 million, which is equal to the Jordanian minimum wage. It contributes to
economic sector growth as well as actual GDP growth.
It also stated that it may help to halt
national aid for 50,000 families, worth an estimated JD55 million.
The committee explained that an increase in
the number of people who meet the requirements for national assistance to
30,000 allowed refugees to "live decently and safely" for a category
of them despite the crowding out of citizens in the labor market as a result of
the lower value of the salary as a result of combining the lower income of the
workers and adding it to the aid. Jordan must cover them in its general budget
for 2025–2026.
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