The volume of clearance of vehicles increased by 20 per cent during the first nine months of 2020, President of the Jordanian Free Zones Association Mohammad Bustanji said on Wednesday.

Despite the suspension of the free zone’s work for 50 days, necessitated by the coronavirus crisis, the Kingdom saw the clearance of 28,172 vehicles during the January-September period, compared with 22,630 vehicles during the same period in 2019, Bustanji said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times.

Clearance of vehicles went up by 20 per cent in the January-September period of 2020 compared with the same period last year, the president noted. 

Meanwhile, a total of 54,319 vehicles were re-exported in the first three-quarters of the year, compared with 51,503 vehicles in the same period of 2019, marking a 6-per-cent increase between the two periods, he said.

To maintain the growth rate, Bustanji also called on the concerned authorities to postpone the 5-per cent increase in custom fees on hybrid vehicles until 2022.

In 2019, the free zone in Zarqa saw the clearance of 32,192 vehicles, while around 67,000 vehicles were reexported last year, Bustanji said in previous remarks, noting that the total number of vehicles processed in the zone last year reached 99,573, including both cleared vehicles and those that were reexported.

The government had lowered taxes on electric vehicles from 25 per cent to 10 per cent for vehicles with a motor capacity of up to 250 kilowatts and to 15 per cent for vehicles with a motor capacity of 251 kilowatts and above. 

The government also abolished the weight tax and replaced it with a separate 4 per cent tax imposed on the original total value of the vehicle.