Jordan Times
Sunday, April 4, 2004
Increase in local revenues, grants yield JD117m budget surplus
By Sahar Aloul
AMMAN — A JD116.9 million budget surplus, including rescheduled interest, was registered in the first two months of the year compared to an overall deficit of JD27 million during the same period last year, according to the Finance Ministry figures.The surplus is primarily due to a JD46.5 million increase in total revenues and grants pouring into the treasury last February reaching JD158.5 million compared to JD112 million in foreign aid and domestic revenues during the same month last year.
Total revenues and grants amounted to JD407.3 million during the first two months of this year compared to JD268.4 million during the same period last year, an increase of JD138.9 million or 51.8 per cent.
Foreign grants amounted to JD56.4 million during January and February of the year rising from JD17.1 million during the same period last year as shown in the Ministry of Finance March bulletin released on Saturday.
Domestic revenues during January and February this year rose by JD99.6 million or 39.6 per cent from JD251.3 million in the first two months to JD350.9 million.
The increase in revenues was the result of an increase in tax revenues and repayments by JD75.2 million and JD25.4 million respectively as well as a decrease in nontax revenues by JD1 million associated with a rise in fees and licences and a decrease in interest and profits and other government revenues.
Tax revenue increases were due to a rise in revenues from several taxes during the first two months of this year in comparison to the same period in 2003 including: Income tax from JD53.8 million to JD94.6 million, customs duties JD33.9 million to JD30.3 million and general sales tax from JD80.3 million to JD108.7 million.
The rise of income tax revenues was attributed to early payments made by a number of corporations and companies to qualify for tax reductions, which, according to the ministry, is higher than the prevailing banking deposit interest rates.
Loan repayments amounted to JD30.2 million during the first sixty days of the year while it stood at JD4.8 million during the same period of 2003.
Total expenditure, however, registered JD290 million during the first two months of the year registering a 1.7 per cent decrease from the JD295.4 million recorded last year.
The drop was a result of lowering capital expenditures by JD6.3 million or 30.6 per cent to JD14.3 million and an increase in current expenditures by JD1.3 million or 0.5 per cent to JD276.1 million during the first two months of the year.
The ministry's figures showed that at the end of February 2004, outstanding external public debt amounted to JD5.27 billion or 69.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) compared to JD5.39 billion or 7.1 per cent of the GDP at the end of 2003.
The country's total debt, both domestic and foreign, stood at JD6.9 billion or 91.5 per cent of the estimated GDP by the end of February 2004 compared to JD7.09 billion or 101.5 per cent of the GDP at the end of 2003.