Cabinet endorses draft general budget for 2023

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the draft general budget for 2023, before referring it to Parliament.

The Council of Ministers, during a session chaired by Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, approved amendments to the Real Estate Sales Tax Law for 2022, aimed to stimulate investments in the real estate and housing sectors and increase their trade volume, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Under the draft law, the tax rate was reduced to 3 per cent down from 4 per cent. The amendments would also enable the Department of Lands and Survey (DLS) to refund the real estate sale tax collected for incomplete transactions to avoid judicial claims for its refund.

In addition, subsequent sale transactions carried out by “murabaha" (an Islamic finance and investment instrument) contracts of sale conducted by Islamic banks and other financial institutions conducting similar businesses will be excluded from the real estate sale tax.

Also, the Council of Ministers approved amendments to  the Jordanian Nationality Law for 2022 to modify texts related to nationality restoration.

Under the amendments, a Jordanian woman married to a non-Jordanian national, who renounced her Jordanian citizenship and acquired her husband’s nationality by extension, is granted the right to restore her Jordanian nationality without limiting it to the validation of matrimonial causes.

The Cabinet also approved amendments to the Professional Work Regulation Law for 2022, aimed at easing citizens' transactions to contribute to regulating and grading the sector's operating shops into professions instead of categories.

In this regard, the Ministry of Labour is enabled to carry out its tasks set in this law in a manner consistent with its roles and capabilities.

Also, the Cabinet approved Jordan's Stakeholders’ Strategy for Land Governance and Management for 2022-2030, which aims to help ministries, government institutions, international organisations and civil society organisations launch and benefit from constructive dialogue in drawing up a roadmap, which would lead to transparent land governance methods, to guarantee all stakeholders' rights.