Jordan is looking into a partial privatization of its phosphates industry, a backbone of the economy which posted nearly $40 million in losses for 2000.
For a country not blessed with many natural resources, Jordan always relied on foreign currency earnings from phosphates exports which placed the kingdom among the world’s leaders in production and sales. But a drop in world market prices, rising extraction costs and poor management have put the phosphates industry in the red, prompting one damning report after the other in the local press and complaints in Parliament.
Last week the managing director of the monopoly Jordan Phosphates Mines Company (JPMC), Khalid Sheyyab, admitted that losses for 2000 stood at 26 million dinars ($37 million) while debts reached 350 million dinars ($490 million).
Sheyyab blamed the crisis on “technical reasons” and a production backlog. “The company is now examining ways to improve its situation, including bringing in private sector partners to take over some activities such as extraction, transport and maintenance,” he said -- (AFP)
