Day: August 7, 2022

The Senate’s Finance and Economic Committee, headed by Jamal Sarayrah, on Sunday approved amendments to the General Sales Tax Law 2021, as referred by the Lower House.

Speaking at the committee’s meeting, which was attended by Finance Minister Mohammad al-Ississ, Sarayrah said amendments seek to achieve reform in mechanisms to pay tax to align with global practices and reduce tax evasion.

Sarayrah noted the committee agreed to develop a set of recommendations on the the draft law, which would be then submitted to Senate’s presidency for deliberation.

The draft law, per its mandating reasons, seeks to help lessen tax evasion and avoidance, by addressing loopholes used by some taxpayers and tackling problems related to delay in refunding sales tax.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Jordan’s real estate trade volume rose by 20 percent in the January-July period of 2022, reaching JD3.128 billion compared to the figure reported in the same period of 2021.

The Department of Land and Survey (DLS) revealed on Sunday that the state’s revenue from the real estate market stood at JD142 million in the Januray-July period of 2022, a 33-percent increase from the figure reported in 2021.

Overall real estate sales in the Kingdom dropped by 7 percent in the January-July period of 2022, as apartment sales also declined by 2 percent, while land sales decreased by 9 percent compared to 2021.

On a monthly level, the trade volume in the Jordanian real estate market went up in July of 2022 by 40 percent, amounting to JD493 million compared to the same month of 2021. Meanwhile, revenue in the same month of 2022 recorded a whopping 60-percent rise, reaching JD23 million compared to the same month of 2021.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship has announced that the draft 2023-2027 National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy and its proposed executive plan will be open to public comment for a month beginning Monday, August 8th.

In a statement Sunday, the ministry said the draft was formulated in collaboration with experts from the European Union, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, as well as with input from stakeholders in the public, private, academic, security, and civil society sectors.

According to the ministry, the strategy pursues an ambitious vision to position Jordan as a regional leader in artificial intelligence by creating an attractive legislative, technological, and entrepreneurial environment for investment in artificial intelligence and capitalizing on the Kingdom’s talent pool.

The strategy aims to create a supportive AI ecosystem by developing Jordanian talents and expertise in this field, encouraging AI research and development, and improving the AI investment and entrepreneurship environment.

It also aims to create a legislative and regulatory environment that encourages the responsible use of AI and its applications to improve the efficiency of the public sector and priority sectors.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Lower House Economic and Investment Committee, headed by MP Khair Abu Sa’ilik, on Sunday continued deliberations of the draft law regulating the investment environment for 2022.

The committee, he noted, seeks to reach agreement on the draft law, which serves and enhances the Kingdom’s investment environment aimed to support national economy and address all investment-related problems.

Abu Sa’ilik and the committee’s members lauded efforts made by the Ministry of Interior and the security apparatuses in providing investor facilitations and their role to preserve and strengthen the Kingdom’s investment climate.

Speaking to highlight government’s procedures to handle investor-related stay issues, Investment Department Director at Ministry of Interior, Basem Dahamsheh said the new instructions maintained validity of the residency permit for a 5-year period, which doesn’t expire after departing the Kingdom by less than 6 months.

Dahamsheh noted the new instructions also granted residency to family of a foreign investor, who obtained a 5-year stay permit, and granted different nationalities a 5-year visa, within specific restrictions, which would benefit businesspeople and investors and use for tourism purposes.

Noting the Ministry of Interior’s “remarkable” cooperation with security departments, he said investor residency transactions are renewed “instantly”.

All investor facilitations seek to enhance the Kingdom’s investment atmosphere and launch businesses countrywide to push national economy and provide job opportunities for Jordanian youth, he pointed out.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The 31th epidemiological week spanning from July 30 to August 5 saw 7 Covid-19 fatalities and 5,482 virus cases, Ministry of Health announced.

With regard to testing, 27,018 PCR tests were conducted over the targeted week, compared with 36, 256, marking a 25% drop, with 20.3% positivity rate, against 14.8%, a week earlier, according to the ministry’s media statement issued Sunday.

To date, there are currently 4,701 active Covid-19 cases countrywide, compared with 4,539 a week earlier, with a 3.6% increase.

Moreover, the ministry said number of Covid-19 patients still receiving treatment at hospitals countrywide has reached 63, compared with 56 a week earlier.

On the national vaccination program, the ministry pointed out that the number of shots administered during the 31th week stood at 2, 035 for the first jab, 1, 870 for the second, and 1, 370 for the booster dose, totaling 5,275 shots, compared with 4,811 shots a week earlier, marking a 10 percent increase.

The total number of first dose recipients stands at 4,812,596, at a 75.2 percent rate for the 18yrs and over target group and 4,550,663 for the second jab, at a 71 percent rate, and 672,914 for the booster shot, according to the briefing.

Regarding immunization for the 12-17 age group, 238,120 received the first dose at a 25 percent rate, and double jabbed recipients reached 203,012 at a 20 percent rate. Meanwhile, among the 5-11 years age group, 308 and 228 children received the first and second doses, respectively.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Education on Sunday approved the revised school calendar for the academic year 2022/2023.

Teacher are scheduled to join public schools countrywide for the new academic year on Wednesday, August 24, who will hand over textbooks to students and carry out the incomplete exams, according to a ministry statement.

Meanwhile, students will start classes in the first semester on Wednesday, August 31, the statement added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The 4th edition of International Innovation Dome for Sustainable Development Forum, kicked off on Sunday, under the theme: “Iraqi-Jordanian Investment, Arab Opportunities and Global Dimensions.”.

Addressing the forum, which was attended by Iraqi Ambassador to Amman Haider Adari and leaders of investment authorities and stakeholders in both countries, First Deputy Speaker of Lower House, MP Ahmed Safadi, stressed the need to expand frameworks of Jordan-Iraq investor cooperation and develop multi-sectoral partnerships.

Safadi noted Lower House will work to enhance “supportive” environment aimed to advance the Kingdom’s investment sector, based on its legislative role.

Refering to a slew of economic bills scheduled to be debated by Lower House during its current non-ordinary session, Safadi said Parliament supported a national dialogue aimed to enhance “effective” partnership and networking with all concerned economic sectors, which would push the national economy.

For his part, the forum’s chairman, Rani Omari, referred to the “strong” Jordanian-Iraqi relations, stressing the event’s importance in strengthening partnerships, and forwarding recommendations for stakeholders, to facilitate investor activities in both countries.

In addition, the forum discussed many issues, primarily joint Jordanian-Iraqi investments and ways to develop related legislative protection umbrella.

The forum’s first day discussions went over conditions of joint investment and the legal aspects in this context.

Source: Jordan News Agency