{"id":18078,"date":"2018-10-11T20:24:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T20:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=18078"},"modified":"2018-10-11T20:24:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T20:24:56","slug":"jordan-pm-reshuffles-cabinet-as-imf-reforms-come-into-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=18078","title":{"rendered":"Jordan PM reshuffles cabinet as IMF reforms come into focus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jordanian Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz announced a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday as the government looks to push through reforms intended to revive stagnant economic growth and cut public expenditure.<\/p>\n

Razzaz, a former World Bank economist, was appointed by King Abdullah II in June to replace Hani al-Mulki, who resigned to defuse a crisis that saw some of the largest protests in years over planned IMF-driven austerity measures, including tax hikes.<\/p>\n

In an apparent bid to calm widespread discontent over rising economic hardship Razzaz, who had said he would re-evaluate his team after 100 days in office, reduced the 29-member cabinet to 27.<\/p>\n

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Jordan’s economic woes pile pressure on new PM<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

But he also kept key ministries – notably the interior, finance and foreign portfolios – unchanged, and has warned Jordan would pay a heavy price if a tax reform bill failed to pass into law this year.<\/p>\n

Razzaz had angered unions and civic bodies when he introduced the IMF-inspired bill in September, making only cosmetic changes to one that brought down Mulki.<\/p>\n

Seen as a better communicator than his predecessor, Razzaz had promised to restore public trust in a country where many blame successive governments for failing to deliver on pledges of reviving growth that is stuck at around two percent, cutting waste and curbing corruption.<\/p>\n

But he installed many of the old-guard conservatives and tribal figures in his cabinet, who held sway in previous administrations, and critics – who have so far stopped short of calling for new street protests – say he has taken no clear steps to hold anyone accountable for graft.<\/p>\n

Bloated bureaucracy<\/h2>\n

Jordan’s bloated bureaucracy is responsible for some of the world\u2019s highest government expenditure as a percentage of GDP.<\/p>\n

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Jordan receiving $2.5bn in aid from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Under an IMF austerity plan it must rein in spending to cut spiralling debt standing a $37bn, equivalent to 95 percent of gross domestic product.<\/p>\n

Razzaz said he wanted to push through the tax bill this year to retain IMF support and avoid higher servicing costs on over $1.4bn of foreign debt due in 2019.<\/p>\n

Any rejection of the bill that parliament will begin debating next week raised the prospect of ratings downgrades, Razzaz said in an interview with state television last month.<\/p>\n

“We will pay a heavy price if we enter next year without a tax bill,” Razzaz said, adding the reform would bring in an extra $423m in revenue.<\/p>\n

Jordan’s economy has also been hit by regional conflict that has weighed on investor sentiment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n SOURCE:
\n Reuters news agency<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jordanian Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz announced a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday as the government looks to push through reforms intended to revive stagnant economic growth and cut public expenditure. Razzaz, a former World Bank economist, was appointed by King Abdullah II in June to replace Hani al-Mulki, who resigned to defuse a crisis that saw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":18079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}