AMMAN — Khaled Suleiman, a cleaner at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), joins his colleagues in their break to browse offers of discounts on consumer goods whose prices are "unflattering" in Ramadan, according to Suleiman, who supports a family of three university students and two primary school students, with an income of only $3.

Poverty estimates in Jordan vary between 25% according to government figures and more than 35% according to civil society institutions.

Suleiman, who seems to be an accurate observer of the market's movement, says that he bought a kilo of lentils in the month of Ramadan for dinars and 10 piasters ($ 1.6), while its price did not exceed 75 piasters last year, which means a jump that prepares for low incomes, and requires government intervention to curb price drops.

The government estimates that tax revenues will rise to 696 million dinars, or 11.7%, compared to last year, and the size of the budget for 2023 amounted to 11.4 billion dinars, the volume of public revenues 9.5 billion dinars, and a deficit of about 1.8 billion dinars.

Suleiman adds to Al Jazeera Net that "the rise in prices reaches its peak in Ramadan, and no matter how we boycotted products, goods and vegetables we will eventually have to buy," listing varieties whose prices rose in the market and had to buy them such as milk, cheese, detergents and supplies.

Merchant Abu Ahmed acknowledges the fact that the prices of some basic materials in his store have risen, but he links the increase in some commodities to the rise in their prices globally, and the monopoly of large traders on certain items, in addition to the reflection of the rise in prices after the Russian-Ukrainian war early last year.

Since the beginning of Ramadan, the majority of Jordanians have complained about the rise in the prices of many basic commodities, such as vegetables, chicken and red meat, prompting the Ministry of Industry and Trade to put ceilings on the prices of chicken after it issued hundreds of violations against traders who saw the holy month as a season of profiteering.

In response to the price hike, Hussein al-Amoush, media advisor to the National Society for Consumer Protection, called on Jordanians to boycott the purchase and consumption of high-priced goods.

Al-Amoush says to Al Jazeera Net that some traders take advantage of the need of citizens in the month of Ramadan blessed, as they take advantage of the weakness of control and the refusal of the official authorities to allow import to fill the shortage of some goods, calling on the official authorities to take decisive measures to alleviate the citizens and put an end to some greedy traders.

The government estimated an increase in tax revenues by 11.7% compared to last year (Al Jazeera)

Rationalization of purchase and rationality of boycott

Meanwhile, the difficult economic conditions experienced by the Jordanian citizen, along with the successive rises in the prices of goods and supplies with the stability of wages and salaries, contributed to weakening the purchasing power, experts tell Al Jazeera Net.

For Al-Amoush, the rationalization and rationality of purchases and the behavior of the boycott of high goods is the most effective response to the behavior of monopolists and all those who exploit people's need, in addition to promoting the behavior of the productive family, and motivating it to exploit every meter of land in agriculture to reduce the shopping bill.

The National Society for Consumer Protection provided Al Jazeera Net with a field comparative study that dealt with changes in the prices of 35 basic commodities before Ramadan compared to their prices after 10 days, in which it confirmed the rise in the prices of 22 basic commodities, and by 23.8% for vegetables.

The study included red meat (an increase of 16.6%), white meat (an increase of 6.25%) and some food supplies such as sugar, rice, eggs, yogurt and cheese for Qatayef and sweets, in varying proportions.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Trade prepared a comparative study of the prices of 155 food commodities during last March compared to last February, and it was found that the prices of 9 commodities decreased, most notably table eggs by 3%-4%, and varieties of meat by 5%.

The study showed an increase in the prices of 10 commodities, most notably fresh chicken by 8% to 12%, where price ceilings were imposed, which led to their stability - according to the government study - and some types of meat between 4% and 5%, and some varieties of vegetables between 6% and 25%.

For its part, the ministry confirms that "prices compared to the same period last year, are much lower and by at least 10%."

In turn, confirms the head of the Chambers of Commerce of Jordan and Amman, Khalil Hajj not rise any imported food commodity, and says to Al Jazeera Net that the prices of the food basket Jordanians this year better than last year's prices.

The difficult economic conditions experienced by Jordanian citizens have contributed to the weakening of purchasing power (Al Jazeera)

High prices of local products

Al-Haj limits the rise in the prices of fresh locally produced varieties, such as cucumbers, chicken and red meat, saying that this is due to "limited production and large demand", stressing the existence of alternatives in the market.

"With the end of the Corona pandemic, restrictions on exports in the world ended, and the private sector was able to provide the needs of the local market, and from different origins and alternatives, which was reflected in the prices of the consumer food basket, which fell by about 10%," he added.

For his part, says the media spokesman for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply Yanal Barmawi to Al Jazeera Net that the food stock "safe and very comfortable" and that the period of sufficiency of wheat up to 13 months.

Al-Barmawi enumerated the conditions that he believes have contributed to the decline and stability of prices for several months, including the decline in the prices of oil derivatives globally, the recovery phase witnessed by the global economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, and the return of production and the availability of commodities, the most important of which are food and basic commodities.

Al-Barmawi added that since the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan until last Tuesday, 367 inspection tours were carried out on markets in various governorates, through which 5,314 shops were visited, which resulted in the seizure of 58 ration violations, including <> violations for non-compliance with the price ceilings set for chicken, and most of the violations were "failure to announce prices."

The penalty for violations of price ceilings shall not be less than one thousand dinars, up to 3,6 dinars, or imprisonment for a period of not less than two months, and up to <> months, or both penalties.

Raad al-Tal, a professor of economics at the University of Jordan, believes that the rise in prices comes within the framework of the macroeconomic policy of the Jordanian state, and from the perspective of aggregate demand as a key driver of economic growth.


The basic generator of growth

Al-Tal details his vision of Al Jazeera Net by saying that one of the most important factors for economic growth is the amount of demand, and one of the most important pillars of demand is the consumption of individuals, but high prices and tax increases limit aggregate demand, as spending is the main generator of economic growth, as well as investment spending resulting from the private sector or government spending on capital projects.

He asserts that rising prices place restrictions on this spending or aggregate demand in the economy, causing economic growth to slow down and reduce its speed. The solution, according to Al-Tal, is to increase people's incomes, which will result in an increase in aggregate demand, and will lead to stable levels of prices, in addition to reducing the tax on individual incomes.

Achieving the desired economic growth, according to al-Tal, means the need to control and control prices, "so that we can achieve an increase in aggregate demand, in a way that serves the main goal of the vision of economic modernization, which is to increase economic growth to the required numbers."

Since Samir al-Rifai's government decided in early 2011 to increase the salaries of employees and retirees by 20 dinars per month ($28), employees' salaries have remained the same, while prices and taxes continue to rise.