Accelerating private sector-led economic growth is
the way to create one million jobs in the next 10 years, as the Economic
Modernization Vision stipulates. For this growth to occur, the private sector
must be able to expand business through investment, which requires clarity when
it comes to the adoption of market competition as an economic philosophy by all
state institutions.
اضافة اعلان
To ensure fair
competition, a first step should be to get rid of direct and indirect
monopolies in all sectors, especially in energy, which has been a major
hindrance of economic growth.
The private sector
also needs smaller and more efficient government so it can operate without
bureaucratic complications. This can be achieved by automating and digitizing
all government functions. Digitization not only reduces the invisible costs of
business and shortens the time of registration, it also creates reliable and
usable databases to build strategies and track implementation. In Jordan, it is
long overdue.
While digitization
is under way, immediate action to increase the efficiency and rehabilitation of
public sector employees is badly needed. Such action must address the basis of
civil service incompetence by introducing serious and credible evaluation of
employees’ performance and ending the de facto immunity of public sector
employees.
The private sector
needs to be reassured that “investor incentives” are included in the law and
not left to a ministerial committee. The mission of a ministerial committee
should be to solve the problems facing investors; such committee would need to
meet on weekly basis.
As an example of
clarity regarding the economic vision, the energy sector must be totally subjected
to free market competition rules, in both supply and demand. Currently, the
cost of electricity – which is nearly double the regional average – is not
subject to market rules. Power-generation companies, electricity-transmission
networks, and distribution companies should be opened to the private sector, to
increase competition, make use of renewable energy, increase production and
reduce costs.
The private sector needs to be reassured that “investor incentives” are included in the law and not left to a ministerial committee.
The private sector
needs a reduction in the prices of leasing government lands for investment
purposes, especially in the less developed regions. At the same time, the
prices of land in the industrial zones need to be reconsidered, because the
price charged during the periods of growth (2001-2007) does not apply today.
Industrial zones should be considered “capital expenditure”, to incentivize the
private sector, and can be linked to performance indicators, including job
creation and exports.
Private-public
partnership is not where it should be. There is a gap between private sector
expectations and public sector “procedures”. This gap must be bridged through
exemplary projects that are not too hard to implement, such as rehabilitation
and operation of tourist and archeological sites, agri-tech for food security,
and water saving.
Fares Braizat is chairman of NAMA Strategic Intelligence
Solutions [email protected]
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