Kingdom's GDP up by 3.5% in 2021, reaching JD32.12b — ACC

AMMAN — The Kingdom's GDP at current prices in 2021 went up by 3.5 per cent after it recorded a drop of 1.8 per cent in 2020, the Amman Chamber of Commerce (ACC) said on Saturday.

According to a statistical report published on the ACC website, GDP at current prices in the Kingdom in 2021 stood at JD32.123 billion, compared with JD31.025 billion in the year before.

The GDP growth last year resulted from the growth of most economic sectors, where the contribution of money services, insurance and real estate sectors accounted for 18.8 per cent, the industrial sector for 17.3 per cent and the wholesale and retail, restaurants and hotels for 9.2 per cent.

The report showed that local revenues and foreign grants in 2021 increased to JD8.128 billion compared with some JD7.029 billion in 2020, marking an increase of 15.6 per cent.

Local revenues last year rose by 17.4 per cent to some JD7.325 billion compared with JD6.238 billion in the year before, where tax revenues reached JD5.627 billion in 2021 up from JD4.959 billion in 2020, registering a rise of 13.5 per cent.

Foreign grants to the Kingdom in 2021 reached JD803 million compared with JD791 million in 2020, up by 1.6 per cent, the ACC report showed.

The total expenditure in 2021 reached JD9.859 billion, witnessing an increase of 7 per cent when compared to 2020's JD9.211 billion.

Current expenditures in 2021 went up by 4 per cent to JD8.721 billion, compared with the year before that recorded JD8.389 billion, while capital expenditures in 2021 reached JD1.138 billion compared with JD823 million in 2020, marking an increase of 38.3 per cent. 

The general budget in 2021 recorded a post-grant deficit of some JD1.731 billion compared with a deficit of JD2.182 billion in 2020, marking a drop of 20.7 per cent. 

The amount of the foreign debt of Jordan by the end of 2021 reached some JD15.138 billion, which equals to 47 per cent of GDP compared with JD13.715 billion in 2020, marking an increase of 10.4 per cent. 

The report also referred to the increase of the Kingdom's foreign trade volume (exports and imports) in 2021 to reach JD21.989 billion, up by 23 per cent compared with 2020 when it registered JD17.875 billion.

The increase in foreign trade figures is attributed to the rise in the value of imports in 2021 by 25.4 per cent to JD15.345 billion, compared with 2020's JD12.235 billion. 

Also, the value of national exports in 2021 went up by 19.7 per cent to JD6.040 billion compared with JD5.044 billion, while the value of re-exported goods in 2021 stood at JD604 million, up by 1.5 per cent compared with the value registered in 2020 of JD596 million.

The increase of imports in higher rates than the increase of exports resulted in a 31.9 per cent hike in the trade deficit of the Kingdom from JD6.596 billion in 2020 to JD8.701 billion in 2021.

National exports in 2021 witnessed an increase to several countries, mainly to Egypt by 48.1 per cent, India by 47.8 per cent, Indonesia by 33.6 per cent, the US by 30 per cent and Saudi Arabia by 27.3 per cent.

On the other hand, the Kingdom's imports from Switzerland increased by 307 per cent, from the UAE by 126 per cent, Saudi Arabia by 50 per cent and Italy by 25.4 per cent.