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JORDAN-ECONOMY-DEMONSTRATION-POLITICS
Jordan king calls for review of bill that sparked protests
AMMAN, June 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Tuesday
for a review of a controversial draft tax law that has sparked a wave of
anti-austerity protests and led to the prime minister’s resignation.
For nearly a week the capital and other cities have been hit by angry
demonstrations against IMF-backed reforms that have brought repeated price
hikes.
Hours after premier Hani Mulki stepped down on Monday in an effort to
quell the unrest, protesters were back in the streets of Amman demanding
further changes.
“We are demanding a change to the government’s economic programme, not
just a change in prime minister,” said university student Ahmad Abu Ghazzal,
23.
“We’re sick of seeing changes in the cabinet — it’s not good enough and
it doesn’t have any results,” he said.
In a letter charging new premier Omar al-Razzaz with forming a
government, King Abdullah II said it “must carry out a comprehensive review
of the tax system” to avoid “unjust taxes that do not achieve justice and
balance between the incomes of the poor and the rich”.
Late Monday the king had warned the country was “at a crossroads”,
blaming the country’s economic woes on regional instability, the burden of
hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and a lack of international
support.
“Either (Jordan) can come out of the crisis and provide a dignified life
to our citizens, or, God forbid, it can go into the unknown — but we have to
know where we are going,” he told a group of journalists, according to the
official Petra agency.
Protesters on Monday night shouted slogans against the government and the
International Monetary Fund as they gathered under a heavy police presence.
Some carried Jordanian flags and chanted “we want rights and duties, not
tips and handouts! and “down with the IMF!”
Some brought children or presented trays of sweets to security forces.
Last month, the government proposed a new income tax law, yet to be
approved by parliament, aimed at raising taxes on employees by at least five
percent and on companies by between 20 and 40 percent.
It was the latest in a series of austerity measures since Amman secured a
$723-million loan from the IMF in 2016.
Since January, resource-poor Jordan, which suffers from high unemployment
and poverty, has seen repeated price rises including for staples such as
bread, as well as extra taxes on basic goods.
Fuel prices have risen five times since the start of the year, while
electricity bills have surged by 55 percent since February.
The measures have sparked some of the biggest economic protests in five
years.
Jordan, a key US ally, has largely avoided the unrest witnessed by other
countries in the region since the Arab Spring revolts broke out in 2011,
although protests did flare late that year after the government cut fuel
subsidies.
– Resignation ‘not enough’ –
The latest protests started last week when unions called for nationwide
demonstrations.
They have rocked several other cities, including Irbid and Jarash in the
north, Zarqa in the east, and the southern city of Maan, which saw deadly
riots in the 1980s over rising food prices.
After accepting Mulki’s resignation, the king asked Education Minister
Omar al-Razzaz to form a new government.
But the premier’s departure did not stop people from demonstrating after
breaking the Ramadan fast in Amman and other cities.
“When the protests began they weren’t just directed against Mulki as a
person, they were against the income tax draft law and the price hikes,” said
Bushra Abu Jabbara, a 34-year-old pharmacist.
“We want the government to respond to our demands and withdraw the bill,
which hasn’t happened yet,” she added.
A majority of deputies — 78 out of 130 MPs — have said they will vote
against the draft legislation.
Mulki’s resignation was “a positive sign” the government was taking the
protesters’ demands seriously, Jordanian political analyst Samih al-Maitah
said.
“The income tax draft law is almost certain to be dropped now,” he said.
The bill is one of a tranche of measures aimed at slashing Jordan’s
public debt from over 90 percent of GDP to 77 percent by 2021.
King Abdullah said gas supply cuts due to attacks on an Egyptian pipeline
to Israel and Jordan had cost the kingdom some $5.6 billion (4.8 billion
euros).
He added that the closure of the borders with the kingdom’s main export
markets, war-torn Syria and Iraq, and the cost of securing those frontiers,
had added to Jordan’s economic woes.
BSS/AFP/RY/1950 hrs