There is no doubt that deep structural reforms create the appropriate environment for sustainable economic growth, which is considered the cornerstone of reducing the budget deficit and public debt indicators and addressing unemployment, which requires restoring the momentum of economic growth at high rates that lead to job creation in our private sector. In fact, there will be no sustainable economic growth without financial and monetary stability, and this is an indisputable economic fact. I must stress that achieving high growth rates and reducing unemployment rates to an acceptable level will not happen automatically. This requires accelerating the pace of growth by reducing the cost of production and creating real structural change to facilitate procedures and transactions and raise the competitiveness of the economy to attract local and foreign investment. I must emphasize that the challenges mentioned in the esteemed committee's report would have doubled in severity and their repercussions would have worsened if this government had not possessed a forward-looking vision in managing the financial and monetary policy with prudence and ability. This was backed by the consensus of credit rating institutions regarding fixing the credit rating of our national economy with a positive or stable future outlook, so that Jordan is the only country in the oil-importing region that has maintained its credit rating as it was before the Corona pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and stagflation, and this calls for confidence and great pride and pride in our capabilities and energies. The rapid developments witnessed in the global and regional economic and political arenas have made the financial and economic reform process more urgent than it was in the past, and it is the main way to confront the challenges of this stage that resulted from factors outside the government's control. The preparation of the draft budget for the year 2024 was also accompanied by unprecedented circumstances and serious challenges to our Arab and Islamic nations and Jordan as a result of the criminal war on Gaza. Despite this, Jordan was able, as usual, to absorb a large part of the shocks and to steadily overcome the repercussions of these crises, and was able to meet all the main objectives of the financial reform program. Structural reforms and prudent financial and monetary policies led to strengthening the resilience of our national economy and its financial and monetary stability and prevented the escalation of the repercussions of the crises on the citizens, the economy, and the standard of living of the middle class. It also boosted confidence in the government's financial and economic policies, and high credibility in fulfilling commitments, which enabled Jordan to agree to proactively work with the International Monetary Fund on a new financial reform program developed by Jordanian hands refined by experience, thus continuing the reform process and building on the structural reforms achieved and enhancing their sustainability. This government has developed fiscal policy directions and undertaken legislative and institutional reforms to address distortions, imbalances, and gaps in tax legislation. The government succeeded in combating tax evasion and addressing tax avoidance and was able to collect treasury rights and enforce the rule of laws approved by your esteemed council, which provided protection for our middle-class citizens from raising tax rates and unfair, easy solutions that have historically led to raising the tax burden on the middle class and limited income. As for what the esteemed committee indicated that continuing to set budgets that include annual increases on all budget items will have dire consequences regarding indebtedness and servicing the public debt. It must be emphasized that the increase in government spending in absolute terms is considered normal due to population growth and the expansion of basic government services resulting from that. In this context, it must be made clear that the nature of the economi c cycle that the global economy is experiencing, and our national economy is affected by, as a result of the economic recession, requires fiscal policies that are countercyclical to stimulate economic activity and improve services provided to citizens. This requires increasing government expenditures without prejudicing the government's broad financial and economic objectives. Accordingly, the 2024 budget was prepared to be consistent with the priority of promoting growth to put unemployment on a declining curve, especially among our job-seeking youth, which required presenting a capital budget that is the largest in the history of government budgets to stimulate economic activity and provide the elements for moving the economy. Because the government's professional and moral responsibility requires protecting the most vulnerable citizens affected by the repercussions of crises, allocations to the National Aid Fund have been increased, the social protection network has been expanded, and financial allocatio ns have been provided to ensure the stability of basic commodity prices in the local market. Investing in the health and education of our citizens is the real strategic investment to improve individual productivity and ensure the achievement of sustainable economic growth rates. Therefore, the government has increased allocations to education and health in this budget. Regarding the increase in current expenditures, it was driven by entitlements that cannot be overlooked, most notably the natural annual increase in the salaries of military and civilian workers and retirees. This government inherited decades-long accumulations of the dominance of the salary bill for workers in the civil and military public sectors, constituting about 61 percent of the total current expenditures. Source: Jordan News Agency