King leads international endeavor to coordinate relief organizations’ efforts to maintain flow of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, says PM, 10th add

The Prime Minister highlighted that "the national carrier project was and will continue to be the primary strategic option, and that we are currently in the stage of waiting for bids to be invited on December 4th, which is the decisive day in which we hope to receive offers related to the national carrier project so that we can move to the implementation stage if the price and technical base are suitable to cover our water needs until 2042." In response to a question about how Jordan could achieve self-reliance amid successive crises, the Prime Minister stated that Jordan worked diligently over the last five or six years to achieve self-reliance, and we were gradually able to achieve many of the self-reliance goals. He noted that in the general budget bill for the fiscal year 2024 that was delivered to the Lower House of Parliament, our coverage rate for public expenditures from local income is 90 percent, up from 79 percent three years ago. He expressed hope that during the next several years, we will rea ch a coverage rate close to 100 percent, which would enable total and true self-reliance. He further added that "the percentage of international aid that comes to us is quite little, accounting for no more than 2 to 3 percent of the income that comes to the Kingdom, despite popular belief that it accounts for the vast majority of the Kingdom's income." He also pointed out that there is a budget deficit that represents the difference between expenditures and revenues amounting to about JD2 billion, and here the state is forced to go and borrow it and refinance it again to be able to cover its expenses, of which the salary and pension bill constitutes about 61 percent, while debt service accounts for approximately 18 percent of GDP, he noted that successive Jordanian governments, including this one, have been able to stabilize its curve and reduce it to 88 percent in the next GDP budget, which is the highest budget that includes Capital expenditure of 1.7 billion. He added that successive Jordanian government s, and this government, were able to stabilize its curve and reduce it to 88 percent of the GDP in the next budget. This budget is also the highest budget that includes capital spending at JD1.7 billion. Source: Jordan News Agency