Khaberni - Written by the general secretary of Azm party, engineer Zaid Nafaa:
Finance and Economics.
Managing money (Financial Engineering) is different from making money.
For decades, my greatest interest, especially at the opening of the parliament, has concentrated on listening to the royal throne speech for its political, economic, and social significance that forms a clear roadmap for the government’s work and priority setting. This is immediately followed by the general budget file, as it is the real mirror reflecting government policies and capabilities.
Throughout this long-term monitoring, we often hear justified demands for improving basic services like education, healthcare, and transportation, reducing unemployment rates, and increasing retirement salaries. Every winter, the demands for infrastructure development are renewed. Undoubtedly, these noble national demands serve the interest of the Jordanian citizen and are highly respected and appreciated.
But the essential question that always arises is:
How can all these demands be met within a limited budget, burdened with debt, facing cumulative interests, and a deficit that exceeds growth rates?
The answer simply is: It cannot be done.
Any increase in spending on a certain sector will inevitably be at the expense of another sector. Here lies the real problem, specifically in the chronic confusion between two fundamentally different concepts:
Public finance and the economy.
Public finance means managing public money (revenues - expenses),
i.e., how to distribute limited resources, while the economy means making money and increasing revenue income, creating wealth and expanding the production base.
The real problem is not just in managing money, but in the limitation of money itself.
From this perspective, Azm party introduced a different political, economic, and social thought and product, which relies on moving away from generalities to a clear and defined economic course based on three main pillars:
1. Determining the economic identity.
2. Scientific strategic planning.
3. Setting goals and accomplishing them through a clear and implementable timeline.
Determining the economic identity is not about theorizing, but rather a very smart and brilliant operation based on real studies and data that identify the sectors in which the state has a real comparative advantage, making these sectors the main pillars and drivers of the national economy.
This is the only path to achieving a radical economic transformation that results in sustainable economic growth that exceeds the deficit by between 2.5% and 3%, enabling the state to truly transition from a consumption-based economy to a production-based economy.
Based on realistic studies and implementable programs, since the launch of the Azm party, it defined its economic vision and policy in key sectors such as:
Tourism, agriculture, light and medium industries, mining, and logistics services.
This choice was not arbitrary or slogan-driven, but the result of a deep understanding of Jordan's potentials and real opportunities through supporting and strengthening the national investment system and presenting a comprehensive, competitive, and attractive program to attract foreign investments by offering a realistic, stimulating investment environment with a Jordanian specificity.
However, continuing with traditional policies, without a fundamental change in the economic model, will only lead to cycling in the same loop:
A deficit exceeding growth, increasing debt, and new borrowing to pay off the interest on both old and new debts, with the result being clear and unfortunately known in advance: more economic pressure, financial burden, high unemployment rates, and eroding hope, meaning simply and sadly that.
We will not escape from the bottleneck.
Waetba will surely migrate. And certainly, our best days will not come.
The revival of the state and economy does not come only from managing the crisis, but from creating the solution, which requires insightful vision, clarity of thought, courage in decision-making, and a real transition from managing money to making money.
