His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday said he would be working with authorities to address the economic hardships facing the citizens as the government revealed some of the measures it would take towards that end.
The Cabinet is expected to release on Tuesday a price-curbing plan in response to His Majesty's directives.
“I want the people to rest assured that we will work day and night to stand up to the challenges people face,” King Abdullah said at a meeting with representatives and officials from Zarqa Governorate, home to some 835,000 residents, mostly from the working and middle classes.
The King said: “Protecting citizens, especially the low- and limited-income segment from the repercussions of the rising prices, is a top concern for me and for the government.”
The government is ready with a set of measures to reduce the financial burden shouldered by citizens due to the soaring cost of essential commodities, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said at the Zarqa meeting.
A major step is to exempt some basic food commodities from customs duties and sales tax, said Dahabi.
The government will also exempt steel from sales tax to lower the soaring construction costs as part of a broad strategy to give people more access to decent accommodation.
Dahabi added that a ban would be imposed on exports of certain types of fruits and vegetables to bring their prices under control, while authorities will increase the Kingdom's strategic reserve of wheat, which is currently enough to meet local demand for six months, the premier told the gathering on Monday.
The government will also keep the prices of bread unchanged at bakeries until the end of this year, he told the meeting.
In addition, the government also has decided to exempt parallel markets from fees paid to municipalities to encourage farmers and vendors to sell directly to citizens, bypassing middlemen.
Dahabi added that King Abdullah gave orders for creating more branches of the Civil Service Consumer Corporation and the Military Consumer Corporation across the Kingdom to reach out to the largest number of citizens.
The Jordan Times