AMMAN — The European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) said that Jordan’s economic recovery continued steadily in
2021, and that the GDP rose to 2.5 percent, from 2.2 percent, in the first
quarter of this year, supported by the growth of the services and tourism
sectors, according to Al-Mamlaka TV.
اضافة اعلان
The EBRD said in a report
that Jordan “made progress” in important reforms in the energy sector, as the
government completed a comprehensive review of energy purchase agreements, and
adopted a three year electricity tariff reform plan.
The bank praised Jordan for
increasing its targeted support to citizens, in response to the rise in global
fuel and food prices, noting that the government partially eased the burden of
high energy prices in the first quarter of this year by reducing fuel taxes to
achieve price stability.
“However, the fiscal space
is limited, as last year the government deficit reached 5.4 percent of GDP, and
the public debt reached 113.8 percent of GDP at the end of the year,” the
report said.
“Therefore, the government
is phasing out indirect comprehensive aid and heading instead toward increasing
the targeted support for the poorest families,” the report added.
It referred to the
government’s announcement last August of a mechanism of paying JD30 million as
fuel subsidies to beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund, university students,
and workers in the public transport sector, explaining that cancelling the comprehensive
aid in favor of support directed to vulnerable groups, combined with
higher-than-expected revenues keeps the primary deficit target of 3.4 percent
of GDP in 2022 within reach.
The European bank also
praised the launch of the Economic Modernization Vision, through which Jordan
aims for higher economic growth and the creation of 1 million additional jobs,
with a focus on promoting high-value industries, addressing food and energy
security, and supporting sustainable development.
The report added that
unemployment in Jordan “is still high, and inflation is accelerating due to
high energy and food prices”.
It called for addressing
high unemployment rates and low female participation in the labor force,
stressing that reforms will encourage private investment, especially in
labor-intensive sectors, which will contribute to job creation.
Even though unemployment
decreased slightly in the first quarter of 2022, it is still high at 22.8
percent, and disparities in unemployment between men (22.4 percent) and women
(30.7 percent) are significant; higher rates are to be found among youth (36.4
percent) and graduates (32.6 percent), the report said.
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