It's believed that
concern over deadly riots caused by joblessness and poor prospects for youths
in Algeria and Tunisia might have helped spur the government move. It follows a
government announcement last week of a $125 million package of partial
subsidies for fuel and staple products like sugar and rice.
Speaking at a
special parliamentary session focused on ways to alleviate the burden of the
poor, Samir Rifai put the price tag on the additional subsidies and raises at
$425 million in 2011.
The new package
includes a raise for civil servants and an increase in pensions for retired
military and civilian personnel as of Jan. 1, Rifai said. He also said it expands
the current subsidies to cover livestock and liquefied gas used for heating and
cooking.
“The rising prices
of foodstuffs and fuel is not a Jordanian government decision,” he said. “It's
the result of a global increase in prices.”
Jordan's opposition
rejected the original subsidies on fuel and foodstuffs as insufficient.
Hamza Mansour, the
head of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood -
Jordan's largest opposition group - declined to comment on the new subsidy
package.
Jordan is saddled
by a foreign debt, which swelled by $4 billion to $15 billion last year, an
inflation which jumped by 1.5 percent to 6.1 percent last month, unemployment
and poverty - estimated at 12 percent and 25 percent respectively.
“The problem we
face is accumulative and caused by an unprecedented deficit,” Rifai said,
referring to a record budget deficit of $2.1 billion, which the government had
planned to reduce by 30 percent this year.
