The privatisation programme in Jordan was formulated and implemented during the last two decades. Commentators tend to go to extremes when evaluating it, projecting both its advantages and disadvantages.

The Jordanian public opinion is tired of listening to the pros and cons of this or that group. Heated discussion on both sides of the argument tends to exaggerate the outcome. According to one side, privatisation is the main reason for the advancement and growth of the economy; according to the other, it is the reason for recession, poverty and unemployment.

Both sides suggest that the privatisation programme was a landmark in Jordan’s development, with far reaching economic and social consequences.

Not true.

The case being so confusing, it is rather imperative to set the record straight and to give privatisation its real due before attributing to it all the positive or negative developments, based on one’s ideological beliefs or predetermined positions.

The World Bank has conducted a survey just before the commencement of the privatisation programme. It indicated that the public sector companies and corporations engaged in production, industry, tourism, communications and other tradable services contributed no more than 14 per cent of the gross domestic product, an indication that the Jordanian private sector was already responsible for the bulk of the GDP. The Jordanian economy was dominated by a vibrant private sector, long time before the advent of the?privatisation.

The Jordanian private sector could always take initiative freely, even before the privatisation. Such advantage was not the product of privatisation.

The privatisation programme was applied to the public sector companies and corporations, marking a share not exceeding 7 per cent of the GDP, an indication of the marginal effect of privatisation, which did not amount to an economic or social revolution.

The Jordanian privatisation programme has been completed. There are no more projects under consideration for privatisation. The list has been exhausted and the Privatisation Executive Committee has been doing nothing during the past three years, i.e., since the privatisation of the Royal Jordanian airline.

The committee is searching for a new role to perpetuate its existence, and this involves the so-called public-private sectors partnership, meaning the implementation of some infrastructure projects where private investors undertake the financing and management, while the government provides the infrastructure and underwrites the commercial risk by guaranteeing the profits of the project at all times, a formula which may prove to be more costly than outright borrowing.

Under the circumstances, the privatisation file should be closed for good. It was a rather small affair, it did not amount to a revolution, and it is completed, as no other entity is a candidate for privatisation unless the government resumes the old practice of establishing new companies to practise commercial activities even when the private sector is ready and eager to undertake them.