AMMAN // Jordan’s King Abdullah II promised on Sunday to press ahead with a wide-ranging package of reforms, amending elections laws that the opposition says favour pro-palace candidates, and overhauling a public sector widely seen as rife with corruption and nepotism.
Addressing parliament, the king said his “white revolution” was part of home-grown reforms he initiated weeks before the onset of the Arab Spring that saw four of his peers deposed in uprisings. Media commentators said the “white” symbolises purity, honesty, and peaceful change rather than the kind of upheaval that has engulfed some of Jordan’s neighbors.
“Jordan is continuing its quest to develop a regional reform model that is home-grown and based on a clear roadmap with specific reform milestones,” King Abdullah said.
He said his public sector plan would restructure state agencies and advance the quality of education, health care and public transportation.
Meanwhile, he added, parliament should tackle laws governing election and political parties. The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted both elections this year to protest the laws. The opposition says they favour conservative tribal candidates who back the palace.
The next steps will be to build real political parties, the king said. He says he would like to see Jordan’s 23 small and fractured political parties coalesce into two coalitions based on ideology – right and left – for the next parliamentary election.
Currently, voters usually cast ballots on the basis of tribal affiliation and family connections. Although Jordan’s multiparty system was revived in 1991, following a 35-year ban prompted by a 1956 leftist coup attempt, opposition parties remain unable to chart clear programmes, claiming they are intimidated by tight scrutiny and security crackdowns.
Earlier this year, King Abdullah said his reforms would lead to the absolute monarchy taking a step back in running the daily affairs of the state. He said as parliament takes on more responsibility, future monarchs – maybe within five years – will have limited, though still significant responsibilities, mainly preserving their final word in foreign and defence policy.
Reform laws introduced in the past three years eased restrictions on the freedom of speech, opinion and assembly, but officials say it is still taking time to interpret or implement them.
Officials say Jordan is also making a push against corruption, with a powerful business tycoon and a former intelligence chief sentenced to jail in separate cases. Prosecutors are also investigating an additional 200 corruption cases involving serving and former officials.
King Abdullah said some delays in liberalisation stemmed from regional tensions, including the absence of a Palestinian-Israeli peace settlement and regional turbulences sparked by the Arab Spring, such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
He said an influx of nearly 600,000 Syrian refugees “depletes our already limited resources and puts enormous pressure on our infrastructure.”
He warned that if the international community “does not move quickly to help us shoulder the burdens of the Syrian crisis, I repeat and emphasise that Jordan is able to take measures to protect the interests of our people and country.” But he did not say if Jordan would close its border.
Jordan has complained of the shortfall of foreign donations to assist Syrian refugees, who are scattered in refugee camps and local communities across the country and now make up around 10 per cent of its 7 million people. The government says it spent $2 billion (Dh7.3 billion) in cash for the refugees’ upkeep last year.
On Thursday, Amnesty International urged world support to help Jordan and other countries hosting Syrian refugees end border restrictions on those fleeing the conflict.
More than 115,000 people have been killed and over 2.1 million forced to flee – mostly to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt – since the Syrian conflict erupted after a crackdown on protests that began in March 2011 against President Bashar Al Assad.
Jordan depends on donations from the United States and Gulf states to keep its economy afloat. It is saddled by a multi-billion foreign debt, a record $2 billion budget deficit, high inflation and a rising energy bill.
* Associated Press
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Director: Jared Hess
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PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Watford v Leicester City (3.30pm)
Brighton v Arsenal (6pm)
West Ham v Wolves (8.30pm)
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace (10.45pm)
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sheffield United (5pm)
Aston Villa v Chelsea (7.15pm)
Everton v Liverpool (10pm)
Monday
Manchester City v Burnley (11pm)
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
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- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
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Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
