Cabinet endorses 2019 draft state budget law

Shaheennews –

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the 2019 draft state budget law foreseeing public revenues at JD8.61 billion and expenditures at JD9.255 billion with an after-foreign aid deficit of JD646 million or 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to the draft bill, which needs the parliament’s endorsement, JD8.013 billion of the total spending will go to current expenditures while JD1.242 billion is earmarked for capital spending. The figures indicates a JD437 million increase in public spending in the 2019 fiscal year.

Accordingly, pre-foreign aid budget deficit is estimated at JD646 million against JD814 million for 2018. Post-foreign aid 2019 budget deficit is estimated at JD1.246 billion or 4 percent of GDP compared with JD1.729 billion or 5.4 percent of GDP in 2018.

The draft bill indicates that about 100 percent of current spending in 2019 will be financed by domestic revenues. Overall, local revenues will cover 86.5 percent of public expenditures compared with 80.1 percent in 2018.

For the first time, the draft budgets of 29 governmental units will be attached to the state budget law in order to foster transparency and ensure tighter oversight over these entities’ spending.

The 2019 state budget law also earmarked 654 million for the social safety net against JD624 million in 2018.