Jordan Cabinet to present draft budget bill to House today

AMMAN The Lower House is scheduled to listen to the governments presentation of the 2020 draft state budget law on Sunday, Speaker Atef Tarwaneh said.

Tarawneh said that the Chamber will also discuss a petition of the Prosecutor General on lifting of the immunity from two MPs and two former ministers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

As a protocol, the House refers the draft state budget law for its Financial Committee for deliberations.

The government referred the draft state budget law for 2020 and budgets of independent public institutions to the House last week which expected 66 per cent of the 2020 revenues to be generated from tax return, 25 per cent from non-tax resources and 9 per cent from grants.

The deficit in 2020 budget is estimated to reach JD1.247 billion after grants, constituting 3.9 per cent of GDP, up from JD1.215 billion in the reestimated value for 2019.
The 2020 draft state budget law saw a rise in domestic revenues to reach JD7.754 billion, registering an increase of 10.4 per cent from the JD7.021 billion reestimated in 2019.

Before grants, next years deficit was estimated at JD2.054 billion, or 6.4 per cent of GDP, compared with JD2.018 billion of the reestimated deficit in 2019, constituting 6.5 per cent of GDP.

Foreign grants are expected to reach JD807 million in 2020, nearly the same as the reestimated value in 2019.

Tax revenues are expected to increase by JD853 million to JD5.651 billion compared with JD4.798 billion reestimated for 2019 while non-tax revenues are expected to see a 5.4 per cent drop to JD2.103 billion in 2020, down from the JD2.223 billion reestimated for 2019.

Current expenditures are expected to constitute some 85 per cent of the public spending in 2020 with an estimated value of JD8.383 billion, while capital spending is to form 15 per cent with JD1.425 billion.