General debt rises slightly, still ‘within targeted limits’

AMMAN — The Finance Ministry on Friday said that the general debt is “within targeted limits”, attributing fluctuations to variations in the timing of external grants and revenue collection.

The ministry, in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, said that an estimated JD600 million in grants shown in the General State Budget Law, would be received by the end of December 2019.

Due to funding the public budget deficit for the January-May period, which has reached JD483 million, as well as meeting the needs of the Water Authority of Jordan and the National Electric Power Company, the general debt inched up to JD29.2 billion by the end of May, compared with JD28.3 billion during the same period of 2018.

The statement added that a JD117-million deposit in the government’s account from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also contributed to the rise in the general debt. The payment was the third under the Jordan-IMF Extended Fund Facility agreement.

The government’s support to SMEs through JD163 million in loans added to the general debt as well, according to Petra, which said that the support is part of the government's strategy to boost economic growth and provide jobs.

The general debt in the first five months of the year stood at JD29.2 billion, constituting 94.3 per cent of the GDP. Excluding the government's JD1.33 billion in deposits to banks, the debt-to-GDP ratio becomes 90.1 per cent.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mohamad Al-Ississ recently said that the government has managed to curb the growth rate of public debt from 21 per cent in 2012 to 3.8 per cent in 2018.