Jordanian parliament approves the budget of 2004

The Jordanian parliament on Thursday evening approved the budget for 2004 estimated at 3.738 billion dollars with a deficit of 410 million dollars.

The council approved the budget law at a majority of ( 77 out of 97 parliamentarian who attended the session ) after long discussions that lasted for four days during which 103 parliamentarians made speeches in the parliament of 110 parliamentarians.

The budget for this year has an increase of 6% over the figures of 2003 budget, while the amount of deficit in the current budget is estimated at 9.3% of the GNP expected for 2004 while an economic growth rate is expected at 5%.

The parliamentary talks concentrated on the need of fighting corruption and fighting unemployment and poverty, and not to increase prices of basic stuffs after the government had announced its intention to increase certain items including fuels as from next spring, demanding to finding out alternatives and to confine to increase prices of accessory items.