The Cabinet decided in its session held on Tuesday, October 5, 2010, to approve the issuance of a Provisional Law supplementary to the General Budget Law for fiscal year 2010 of 350 million dinars.

The approved supplementary law is a balanced supplementary law with equal public revenues and expenditure, and it will not lead to any increase in the budget deficit to which the government committed for the year 2010 amounting one billion dinars. Additionally, the provisional law will not necessitate any additional borrowing, as the additional public revenues expected to be collected cover the total expenditure decided in the supplementary without imposing any new taxes, and thus this supplementary is in line with the national program objectives for the financial and economic reform.

The supplementary law was issued due to the inadequate appropriations allocated for some objects of expenditure in the General Budget Law, such as the payroll sheet for the Ministry of Education and the Public Security Directorate, as well as the allocations for the National Aid Fund, Medical Treatments, income and sales tax refunds, and school nutrition, in addition to the allocations required to cover the expenses of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Also, the allocations for subsidizing bread in 2010 Budget Law are insufficient for meeting the actual and expected needs in light of the rise in wheat prices in the global markets. Therefore, the subsidy provided to the substance of wheat by virtue of this supplementary law was increased to ensure that the citizens’ standards of living are not affected, particularly citizens in poor and middle classes.

By virtue of the Supplementary Law, the required appropriations were allocated to support some of the vital sectors relevant to strengthening social protection and expanding the middle class, through establishing a fund to support public transport with a view to reduce transportation costs for college students and people with limited income, as well as establishing a fund to support and finance charities to strengthen their role in serving local communities. Moreover, the Supplementary Law included increasing the allocations for the Livestock Protection Fund, and increasing the Agricultural Credit Corporation capital to enable it to meet the growing financing needs of small farmers all around the Kingdom.

Additionally, the supplementary law was issued to cover the cost of some government decisions related to protecting the poor and expanding the base of the middle class, following the Royal Directives.  The most prominent decisions stipulated continuing to stabilize the price of gas cylinder, which is currently subsidized to ease the burden on citizens, especially the low and limited-income people, in addition to covering the cost of teachers salaries by 5% as of early 2010, 15% as of early June 2010, and 5% as of early October 2010, as well as covering the cost of raising the wages of the general secondary certificate examination personnel, and covering the allocations of the Royal Makroumah to cover the study cost of teachers’ children in universities.

Additional appropriations were allocated for some vital capital projects in the Health and Education sectors, such as the establishing Prince Hashem Hospital in Aqaba, Queen Rania Hospital for Children, and constructing (25) primary schools in the different regions of the Kingdom. 

The public expenditures were estimated in the Provisional Law Supplementary to the Budget Law for the Fiscal Year 2010 by (350) million dinars, distributed by (286.4) millions for the current expenditures, and (63.6) million JDs for the capital expenditures. Public revenues were estimated in the supplementary budget by (350) million JDs, distributed by (105) million JDs as tax revenues, (145) millions as non-tax revenues, and (100) millions JDs as external grant