JBA president urges national economic recovery plan

President of the Jordan Businessmen Association (JBA) Hamdi Tabba on Wednesday called for formulating a time-framed national economic recovery plan that helps the Kingdom overcome the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The plan should be accompanied by sector-specific action programs in which challenges and obstacles are identified and losses are accurately assessed for all economic sectors affected by the pandemic, Tabba told Petra, urging adequate support to small and medium enterprises, which, he said, comprise a large portion of the private sector.

Highlighting paths to recovery, Tabba emphasized the importance of reducing burdens and costs incurred by businesses, particularly energy costs, income and sales taxes and social security contributions, in addition to facilitating corporate access to credit.

The JBA president particularly called for reducing and standardizing the general tax on sales for various sectors for a period of time not less than a year, so that the private sector can restore its activity, stressing that enabling businesses to switch to alternative energy sources will boost their competitiveness and cut operating costs.

"In order for us to start on a recovery path like other countries, we must adapt to the virus and return economic activity to what it was, with an emphasis on adherence to all necessary safety measures as set by the government," Tabba concluded.