Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh has instructed during his presidency of the Cabinet session today, Sunday, relevant ministries and authorities to take all necessary measures and actions to deal with the potential inflationary effects on the Jordanian market as well as the global market. This is due to the regional developments resulting from the ongoing Israeli Occupation aggression against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the current tensions in the Red Sea.Regional developments Al-Khasawneh said, "About 15 percent of the volume of international trade passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Due to the ongoing aggression of the Israeli Occupation against our brothers and people in the Gaza Strip, regional developments have occurred, leading some transport companies to perceive it as a risk to the continuity of their passage through the strait."Al-Khasawneh added that according to international estimates, in addition to the estimates of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply, the costs of transport trucks have steadily risen by approximately 160-170 percent for trucks coming from Southeast Asia and often 60-100 percent for trucks and containers from North America and Europe. Additionally, the fees for insuring imported goods have also increased.He pointed out that if this situation continues, it will have an inflationary impact. This is because commercial and industrial sectors operate on the basis of legitimate profit, and thus they will pass on the costs with profit margins.When there is an increase, it is expected to reflect on the prices of goods and commodities "because the trader, rightfully so, does not perform a social function but operates on the basis of profit."The prime minister emphasized that the private commercial, industrial, and tourist sectors, for the most part, have always borne a great deal of responsibility and accepted reasonable profit margins. Al-Khasawneh said, "It is our duty to try to alleviate some of the inflationary aspects through measures that lead to their reduction, especially regarding price differentials."He mentioned that the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and the Ministers of Finance and Transport have been tasked with presenting recommendations on what can be offered "not within the framework of financial windows because we do not have these financial windows in the context of our commitments and financial capabilities and the state's public policy, which does not provide general subsidies but supports towards the needy citizens and not support for goods since we transitioned to adopting the market economy approach and structural reforms."He added, "Perhaps we have means to limit this inflationary impact by adopting a measure similar to the one we took during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding setting a customs ceiling on the value of containers coming in, to their price and ceiling that was in place before October 7 of last year." He noted that he has directed the implementation of this measure and action.Economy Al-Khasawneh emphasized that the regularity of the economic life cycle is fundamentally crucial, stating, "We are in a region where there is military action and clear aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip. However, our economic performance must recover impressionably."He stressed the need to achieve an economic performance that is similar to or surpasses the outstanding economic performance achieved last year."As a government, we take pride in the economic, financial, and monetary performance of the Jordanian state until the last quarter of the previous year, where the economic, financial, and monetary performance of the Jordanian state was exceptionally distinguished compared to the years before the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.  (ICE AMMAN)

Fonte notizia: ROYA NEWS