In an Interview with ANB TV: Abu-Ghazaleh Appeals to His Majesty to Adopt a National Economic Dialogue

Economy is in deep crisis where we have three critical months to overcome- HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

AMMAN-------December 2, 2012------In an exclusive interview with ANB TV, HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) stressed that the Jordanian economy is in a grave crisis and that it shall face three critical months thus, this situation requires immediate action to come up with real solutions.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh appealed to His Majesty King Abdullah II to adopt a national economic dialogue under the umbrella of His Majesty’s support and directions which will include the government and representatives of the society’s different segments in order to inspect the crisis that is basically “economic” to ensure that it doesn’t get diverted from its real path “the economy” and to direct the research and dialogue to this dimension.

  Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said:"We are in a position that we need to be honest and transparent in addressing this economic crisis." He also urged the media to focus on the economic side.

He added that we have not witnessed any kind of multilateral dialogue that includes all segments of the society for a long time where academics, businessmen, economists, youth, experts, professional organizations and institutions and unions in addition to the government take part in positive dialogue.     

Abu-Ghazaleh criticized the status improvement of the government members and stated that a minister's mission is to serve the people and improve the peoples' status rather than improving his own.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said that he warned that the situation resembles what has happened in Greece before it collapsed and that he met with academics and economists in establishing Economic Policy Development Forum to work and place facts in front of decision makers and we have already published our reports regarding the situation of various sectors.

Considering the constant changes in the government and the lack of commitment to a specific economic strategy that applies to all governments, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh added that the solution is for the country to agree upon an economic pact highlighting the policies that consecutive governments have to abide by on the short, middle and long terms regardless of the changes in the these governments. Moreover, he stated that twenty two work groups have been formed including all sectors each one headed by a qualified leader.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh carried on saying that we will present through the Charter the standards for the economic index for each subject and we shall establish the "Marsad" or an Observatory to monitor the real application and violations of these indicators so that we can release reports measuring the performance of the governments utilizing the power and effect of the media to inform all decision-making parties of the findings of the focus groups.

Furthermore, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh expressed his astonishment at the government’s decision in asking the Audit Bureau to audit every transaction before it is released. He said that this is one of the most hazardous and least practical decisions and it will hold the Bureau accountable and not the officials.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh expressed his hope that the experts will work on this issue and requested the government to work more in fighting corruption in order for the citizens to stand by the government.

According to Abu-Ghazaleh the priority of any government must be improving the productivity so that we can solve the debts issues without resorting to borrowing.