International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper highlights Jordan’s First Review under the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria. Jordan’s economy continues to show resilience despite a challenging external environment. The economy continues to grow, albeit at a somewhat slower pace, inflation is low, and reserve buffers are strong. Growth is projected to pick up pace in 2025, contingent upon the Israel-Gaza conflict ending and its impact fading. Uncertainty is high, however, and structural challenges remain, with continued high unemployment. Strong progress was also made in implementing structural benchmarks (SBs), with all six SBs for the first review met, and with good progress being made toward meeting SBs for the next review. The authorities remain firmly committed to sound macro-economic policies and advancing structural reforms, to maintain macro stability, further strengthen economic resilience in the face of successive external shocks, and foster stronger, job-rich growth. Steadfast implementation of structural reforms is crucial to create a more dynamic private sector that can generate sufficient jobs and contribute to higher living standards.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper presents Jordan’s Request for an Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility and Cancellation of the Current Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Building on Jordan’s consistently strong performance under the previous program, the new EFF arrangement will support the authorities’ efforts toward maintaining macro-stability; further building resilience, and accelerating structural reforms to achieve stronger, more inclusive growth and job creation. Sound policymaking and support from international partners have helped Jordan to withstand well a series of shocks over the past few years and to maintain macro-stability, broad-based economic growth, and market access, and strengthen social safety nets. Going forward, supported by the new EFF arrangement, policies are focused on maintaining macro-stability and further building resilience, and accelerating structural reforms to achieve stronger, more inclusive growth and job creation, to tackle high unemployment. Further progress in implementing structural reforms to improve the business environment and attract private investment is crucial to create a dynamic private sector, foster job-rich growth, and achieve the objectives of Jordan’s Economic Modernization Vision.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper presents Jordan’s Sixth Review under the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria. The IMF-supported program remains firmly on track, with key quantitative targets met and strong performance on structural benchmarks, reflecting the authorities’ strong ownership. Despite a challenging global environment, Jordan’s economy is projected to continue to grow this year at 2.6 percent, and inflation has remained relatively low and is declining. The Jordanian authorities have managed to successfully navigate recent external shocks and maintain macro-economic stability in an uncertain and challenging environment. Thanks to the steadfast implementation of prudent fiscal and monetary policies, fiscal consolidation is on track, capital market access has been maintained, and inflation has remained relatively low and is declining, while reserve coverage is strong. Monetary policy has responded quickly to U.S. Federal Reserve policy changes and remains focused on safeguarding the peg and maintaining strong reserve buffers.
International Monetary Fund. Monetary and Capital Markets Department
This paper on Jordan focuses on the financial system stability assessment. Jordan’s financial sector, dominated by banks, has withstood several large external shocks since the latest financial sector assessment program (FSAP) that was conducted in 2008–09 in part thanks to measures implemented by the authorities to enhance the system’s resilience and oversight. The FSAP’s systemic risk analysis found that Jordan’s banking sector appeared broadly resilient. Banks would be able to withstand a large global stagflationary shock, if it were to occur, given high levels of system-wide regulatory capital and robust earnings. The challenging external risk environment highlights the need strengthening the financial stability framework. The FSAP recommended that the banking supervision approach be more risk-based and forward-looking. Pillar 2 supervisory assessments should be developed for more risk-sensitive capital requirements. The macroprudential framework needs stronger decision-making and a more refined strategy. Several data gaps should be filled to implement stress tests on a globally consolidated basis, run systemic foreign currency liquidity analyses, and perform more granular analyses of household and corporate sector vulnerabilities to guide the calibration of borrower-based macroprudential tools.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper discusses Jordan’s Fifth Review under the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria. Jordan has continued a broad-based recovery amid a challenging external environment, thanks to the authorities’ effective policy response. Financial challenges in the electricity sector are exacerbating fiscal pressures, particularly as food subsidies have increased considerably on the back of high international prices. As agreed in the fourth review, the authorities have eliminated the subsidies on gasoline and diesel. They also met structural benchmarks on introducing goods and services tax place of taxation rules; strengthening the governance of fiscal incentives; improving the competition framework; removing legal impediments to female employment; implementing a foreign direct investment survey; and rolling out e-procurement. The 2022 and 2023 fiscal targets are being relaxed slightly to accommodate higher food-related spending. The authorities remain committed to reducing public debt/gross domestic product to 80 percent by 2027. IMF expects the implications for the program to be manageable, given the authorities’ ownership and commitment to program objectives and Jordan’s continued ability to attract development partner support.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper explores the main obstacles related to low female labor force participation in Jordan. Lack of access to safe and reliable public transportation can hamper labor market choices for women. Gender-based legal restrictions may also prevent women from participating in the labor market. The analysis concludes that structural variables and regulations are the main drivers of the gender gap in participation and employment outcomes in Jordan. Based on the regression results, there is a statistically significant relationship between the structural variables and regulations and the gap in both participation and employment. The results for Jordan are also compared with the Middle East and North Africa region. It finds that gender disparity in labor market participation in Jordan is not due to access to basic services such as education and health but is rather based on structural and legal impediments. Particularly, structural variables as well as regulations help explain the gap in participation rates between men and women.
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This paper discusses Jordan’s 2022 Article IV Consultation and Fourth Review under the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), Request for Augmentation and Rephasing of Access, and Modification of Performance Criteria. Jordan's EFF program remains firmly on track. The authorities have maintained macroeconomic stability and market access, while protecting the most vulnerable, and implementing key structural reforms, especially in the area of public finances. The IMF remains committed to supporting Jordan, including by augmenting access under the EFF to help address higher financing needs from higher international commodity prices and tightened global financial conditions. Donor support is critical to enable Jordan to cope with these global economic headwinds, while hosting 1.3 million Syrian refugees.