For Jordan to see quicker growth, reforms must be accelerated, says IMF

 Recently, the International Monetary Fund remarked that Jordan needed urgent structural economic reforms in order to increase the growth beyond the average of 2% to 3%. The IMF is of the opinion that in order to generate more jobs to curb high unemployment, significant reforms were necessary in Jordan.

Ron van Rooden, an IMF official, remarked that the rate of unemployment was still high in Jordan, especially for women and the youth. Given these circumstances, structural reforms are necessary to achieve inclusive growth and create more jobs. Currently, the unemployment rate stands at 22.9%, and without significant growth, it is not possible to remedy the current situation.

For 2023, the growth rate forecast was 2.6%. However, this growth was still insufficient to better the standards of living of the country which has a current population of eleven million and an annual population growth rate of almost 2%.

However, on the positive side, the IMF official has called Jordan a success story because the country has been successful consistently in implementing sound macroeconomic, fiscal, and monetary policies. The country’s stability has helped it to receive favorable interest rates from international capital markets upon the issue of last month’s $1.25 billion Eurobond.

Van Rooden was concluding a visit to conduct the sixth review of Jordan’s IMF-backed program. He remarked that the country remained on track and achieved its key targets with the help of prudent fiscal and monetary policies. For example, with the help of a tight monetary policy, Jordan was able to keep inflation at 2.7% as against earlier projections of 3.8%, despite global inflationary pressures. The four-year IMF-backed program has helped to secure economic stability in the country despite difficult global circumstances, said Mohamad Al Ississ, the Finance Minister of Jordan.