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Gov’t urged to include garment, leather industries under incentives umbrella

By JT - Nov 11,2019 - Last updated at Nov 11,2019

Garment and leather exports accounted for more than 35 per cent of the increase in national exports during the first eight months of this year, according to a Jordan Chamber of Industry board member (Photo by Amjad Ghsoun)

AMMAN — The government has been urged to review and include the garments and leather industries among the sectors benefitting from the recently announced package of incentives, according to a stakeholder.

In a statement, Ehab Qadri, a Jordan Chamber of Industry board member, said that the garments and leather industries sector has achieved “remarkable” results over the past few years, especially in employing of Jordanian workers.

Qadri stressed that the sector contributes about 29 per cent of the total employment in the industrial sector, while accounting for 26 per cent of the total national exports.

Additionally, it contributes to about 7 per cent of the total existing production of the industrial sector, the statement said, adding that “all these are clear indications of the sector’s contributions to the Jordanian economy”.

Qadri noted that garment and leather exports accounted for more than 35 per cent of the increase in national exports during the first eight months of this year, which grew by 8 per cent to reach JD913 million, according to the statement. 

Despite “internal and external constraints”, its exports achieved a “clear growth” over the last decade through an annual compound growth rate of 8 per cent.

In addition to this, the contribution of the garment and leather industries sector to the national GDP has doubled over the last two years to reach about 1.7 per cent, which is a “reflection of the value added from sector production, which amounts to about half a billion dinars”, Qadri said.

Qadri stressed that incentives will result in the expansion of the sector by employing Jordanians and contributing to the growth of the national economy. 

The board member noted that the sector has opened 20 satellite units over the last three years to take advantage of incentives in Article 8-A of the Investment Law. These units employ 6,300 Jordanian workers, according to the statement.

The total number of employees in the sector in 2018 was around 74,000, 19,000 of which were Jordanian, Qadri said in the statement.

He noted that the number of Jordanian workers in the sector increased by 119 per cent from 2010 to 2018, highlighting the salaries of Jordanian employees, which currently amounts to JD64 million, compared with JD26 million in 2010.

He added that the exploitation of these export opportunities, according to an International Trade Centre study, will be the creation more than 33,000 jobs; 21,000 jobs (65 per cent) directly in the sector, and about 12,000 jobs indirectly, due to the links the sector has with a number of other sectors.

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