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‘Uber Taxi’ Launched in Jordan

‘Uber Taxi’ Launched in Jordan
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‘Uber Taxi’ Launched in Jordan

‘Uber Taxi’ Launched in Jordan

Uber Jordan today has announced the launch of taxi-hailing service ‘Uber Taxi’ in the country. Jordan is the first country in the Middle East to get Uber Taxi. Careem that was recently acquired by Uber recently, however, has taxi-hailing services in many of its markets in the region including Jordan.

Uber in a statement said that the launch of Uber Taxi in Jordan is a testament to Uber’s support of the public transport sector in the nation, as well as its efforts to make transportation even more accessible to residents and visitors alike.

The statement also noted that Uber Taxi has expanded company’s network of vehicles in the country and will provide new economic opportunities for taxi drivers who will have access to more trips.

The announcement comes almost two weeks after Uber’s acquisition of its rival Careem but apparently the launch has nothing to do with Careem already having the option to hail taxis in Jordan as the two companies are not expected to have any integration until the deal is closed.

The base fare of UberX, Uber’s low-cost car type and Uber Taxi is same, JOD 0.5 ($0.71) but the taxi is relatively cheaper than Uber X as the per KM charges for Uber Taxi are set at JOD 0.130 compared to Uber X’s JOD 0.140 and per minute charges on Uber Taxi are JOD 0.050 whereas Uber X charges JOD 0.060.

Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, Vice President of Uber operations in Europe, Middle East & Africa, commenting on the launch, said, “I am honored to announce the arrival of Uber Taxi in Jordan, and we are excited to be tapping into local modes of transport so that more riders and drivers can benefit from our technology. Jordan is a fast growing market, especially in the smart transport services sector, and through this launch, we aim to move towards our goal of becoming a multi-modality platform,”

“Furthermore, we hope that this will galvanize the development of transportation services in Jordan, and provide taxi drivers new opportunities to reap the economic benefits by using our technology to maximize their earning potential through the option of pairing with the closest Uber Taxi rider in addition to traditional street hailing,” he added.

Uber Taxi can be accessed through the regular Uber app as another car option by the users in Jordan. The company already has on-boarded hundreds of taxi drivers who are ready to start accepting the trips.

The taxi drivers, per the statement, will receive the same privileges provided to all Uber drivers and will be charged a reduced service fee.

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Lebanon Hopes to Meet Foreign Bondholders in Coming Year, Finance Minister Says

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Hopes to Meet Foreign Bondholders in Coming Year, Finance Minister Says

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon January 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Lebanese officials hope to meet international bondholders to talk about restructuring debt in the next 12 months but are not planning any meetings at the World Bank/IMF Spring meetings next week, finance minister Yassin Jaber said on Tuesday.

Jaber spoke to Reuters just days before travelling to Washington for the Spring meetings - one of the biggest gatherings for financial policy makers and investors - where Lebanon will seek to show it has made progress on economic reforms to address the underlying causes of its financial crash.

Lebanon's economy began unravelling in 2019 after years of corruption and profligate spending by the country's ruling elite, and tipped into a sovereign default on its $31 billion of outstanding international bonds in March 2020.

Asked whether he planned to meet international bondholders in the next year, Jaber said, "definitely, definitely, this is as they say the elephant in the room."

"You can't escape it in the end. Lebanon is keen to resolve this issue, God willing," he said.

But the country needed to make progress on reforms - including reforming the banking sector and boosting government revenues through reforms to tax systems and customs collection - before it could start talks, Jaber said.

"We wanted, first of all, to do our homework, to put the whole reform process on the right track to get started. You can't have a house in total disorder and then say, 'I want to negotiate,'" he said.

The Lebanese delegation to the spring meetings will be the first outing at an IMF/World Bank meeting for Lebanon's new government, which took the reins in February and pledged to seek a new IMF programme. Jaber said it would be the first time a Lebanese finance minister attends in more than a decade.

Economy Minister Amer Bisat is scheduled to give an outlook on Lebanon's economy at a JPMorgan investor conference held on the sidelines, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The creditor group - which includes the heavyweight funds Amundi, Ashmore, BlackRock, BlueBay, Fidelity and T-Rowe Price as well as a group of smaller hedge funds - has recently appointed a financial advisor in preparation for debt talks.

Shortly after the bondholder group originally formed in 2021, it said it held a "blocking stake" of more than 25% across a number of Lebanon's bonds, making it a critical player in any debt restructuring.

The chunk of the bonds are also held by domestic commercial banks or the Lebanese central bank, which bought $3 billion of debt directly from a previous government in 2019.

Lebanon's bonds trade at deeply distressed levels of around 15-16 cents in the dollar. However, that is a sharp uptick from the single digits they traded in before Israel's military campaign badly weakened Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, long viewed as an obstacle to overcoming Lebanon's political paralysis.

In January, Lebanon's cabinet extended the statute of limitations on legal action over Eurobonds for another three years. Jaber said the move "reassured the bondholders".