AMMAN — Member of the Board of Directors of
the
Amman Chamber of Industry (ACI) and economic expert Musa Al-Saket has said
that “the cost of the strike is much higher than the cost entailed by the
reduction of the price of oil derivatives”, and urged the government to put an
end to the strikes as soon as possible, Khaberni reported.
اضافة اعلان
“We are facing a worsening crisis today,
the economic cost of which is high on all sectors,” he said, stressing that
transportation is an important economic component and that, had the government
been truly aware of the sector’s impact , it would have ended the strike on the
first day.
According to Saket the cost of the
transport sector strike on the economy is estimated at JD10 million per day,
which means that in the 12 days since the start of the strike the cost had
reached JD120 million.
He said that the government and its
economic team could have come up with solutions; for example, they could have
reduced the amount of expenditures in the 2023 General budget draft law to be
able to reduce the price of diesel and kerosene, which, in turn, brings down
the cost of transportation and thus increase the competitiveness of national
products.
All sectors depend heavily on
transportation, especially since “more than 70 percent of Jordanians’ food, and
85 percent of production inputs are imported,” he said, noting that the
production lines at several factories have stopped due to the insufficient
production inputs, and that there is a backlog of about 20,000 containers in
the port of
Aqaba.
Saket, said that the government has it
in its power to end the transport crisis in light of the recent decline in oil
derivatives prices globally.
He also stressed that the government had
been warned from the beginning of the crisis about the negative repercussions
of a strike, and of the urgent need to work quickly to end the strike.
Read more Business
Jordan News