Khaberni - The report of the Financial and Economic Committee in the Senate on the draft general budget law stressed the importance of monitoring global changes and responding quickly to them, calling for continued support of targeted sectors.
The report recommended drafting a special law for non-banking financial institutions, encouraging insurance companies to merge through tax incentives, and stimulating foreign funds to invest in the local market through tax exemptions, similar to what is done in many countries, confirming the study of including treasury bills in a secondary market and stimulating mutual investment funds.
The recommendations emphasized continuing cultural activities at the level of districts and the project of establishing murals and sculptures in the provinces, with a clear timeline for implementing the directives of His Highness Prince Hussein, the Crown Prince, in preparing a Jordanian narrative and promoting the concept of art training centers in all provinces.
The report called for involving specialists, political forces, and community groups in preparing the new local administration law, speeding up its issuance, and conducting elections as soon as possible.
The study proposed involving the private sector in managing solid waste and managing municipal service projects such as markets and slaughterhouses. It also recommended speeding up the separation of the municipal executive body from the elected body, continuing financial support to the Cities and Villages Development Bank, and studying changing its name to "Municipalities and Local Councils Development Fund" to suit its nature of work, in addition to accelerating the connection between the municipalities and the Land Department and preparing a new land use map to protect agriculture.
The recommendations urged activating the High Health Council, completing studies to cover all citizens with health insurance and studying the unification of insurance funds, and preparing community responsibility programs that allow the private sector to donate for establishing health facilities and generalizing partnership with it in construction, and continuing the approach of comprehensive health centers.
They also demanded amending the civil service system to raise the retirement age for specialists from 65 to 70 years, restructuring the organizational structure of the Ministry of Health so that the main hospitals are directly connected to the minister, and using the funds of the Health Insurance Fund for their intended purposes.
The report stressed the need to speed up the issuance of a classification system for associations, the development of a unified database to prevent duplication of services, the expansion of post-care programs and clubs for the elderly and inclusive education programs across the Kingdom, and speeding up the enactment of a social responsibility system to institutionalize fundraising.
The recommendations called for supporting the Agricultural Loan Institution, enhancing agricultural exports, expanding partnership projects with the private sector, supporting the National Center for Agricultural Research and the National Seed Bank, as well as speeding up the implementation of the electronic tracking project for crops and livestock tagging, increasing focus on rainwater harvesting projects, combating encroachment on forest wealth, and encouraging the use of modern irrigation technology.
The report called for activating and integrating youth centers, continuing the development of the scouting movement, studying the establishment of sports cities in provinces as part of a long-term plan, emphasizing the sustainability of water resources, stopping depletion, reducing loss from networks, combating encroachments, continuing efforts in water harvesting and rationalizing use.
It recommended speeding up the signing of the agreement with the United Arab Emirates to implement the Shidiyah/Aqaba railway project, studying an alternative to trucks transporting phosphate and potash, and accelerating the completion of the Ma'an land port, preparing a comprehensive database for transport, and conducting a comprehensive study of transportation issues in Amman in cooperation with the Greater Amman Municipality, and enhancing the Ministry of Transport with specialized staff.
The recommendations highlighted the importance of finding alternatives for employing civil service registry employees, generalizing training programs in project management, and promoting the idea of comprehensive service centers. In the field of investment, they called for enhancing the Ministry of Investment with qualified staff, granting its representatives sufficient authority, studying the investment environment law and evaluating the incentives granted with priority for provinces.
They also recommended re-evaluating the public-private partnership law, continuing support for national priority projects, combating poverty and unemployment, increasing cooperation with international institutions to support the private sector, providing support for the Industry Support Fund, and continuing to diversify export markets.
The report included a call for the government to speed up the application of the electronic signature system, regulate the e-commerce market, continue negotiations with the European Union to extend the Rules of Origin Agreement, study establishing a unified umbrella for investment institutions, and continue monitoring markets.
It emphasized the need for the 2026-2030 energy strategy to align with the economic modernization vision, increasing the contribution of renewable energy with a focus on storage technology, addressing electrical loss, expanding the application of time-related tariffs, monitoring the operations of phosphate and potash companies to increase added value, and speeding up the transition from fixed pricing for oil derivatives to monthly price caps.
The report addressed the Greater Amman Municipality, urging a study of its financial capability to meet commitments, speeding up the project to install cameras to improve traffic safety, executing partnership projects with the private sector, updating the master plan of the city, and continuing the administrative development project.
In the field of innovation and technology, the report recommended working on legislation to regulate venture capital funds, studying reasons for the migration of startups in the technology sector and finding solutions for it, launching cyber security awareness programs, studying the possibility of blocking social media sites for teenagers to protect them from exploitation as done in several countries. Furthermore, it called for diversifying tourist markets to include Africa, Asia, and residents in the Gulf, preparing a strategy to promote the Baptism site, preparing early for celebrating two thousand years since the Baptism of Jesus Christ in 2038, forming a committee from archaeology experts to respond to extreme Israeli claims, establishing regular transportation lines to archaeological sites, and preparing a feasibility study for tourism projects.
It also recommended considering building schools in partnership with the private sector to cover the deficit of more than 595 schools, setting a timeline to address the debt problem of universities, increasing the number of integrated schools, continuing to introduce arts and sports curricula, and supporting universities to develop programs that mimic digital development and market needs.
It called for continuing awareness efforts to combat drugs especially among the youth, introducing alternative punishments, and developing a strategic plan to reduce prison overcrowding, including studying future expansion and construction needs based on available resources.
