Jordanians’ perseverance ‘started to bear fruit’ — IMF

AMMAN — Jordan has exerted tremendous efforts to preserve its stability despite unfavourable regional developments, refugee influxes, the closure of trade routes and an increase in loan costs, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department Jihad Azour has said.

In an article, Azour said that the perseverance of the Jordanian people “has started to bear fruit” with the improvement of economic indicators, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

Such indicators, according to Azour, included an improvement in exports volume, growth in tourism revenues by 6.1 per cent by the end of April to $1.746 billion and an increase in Jordanian expatriates’ remittances. 

The IMF official added that the government had adopted a mechanism for economic transformation in the coming five years, which is based on encouraging investment, improving competitiveness and enhancing the economy’s resilience.

Moving forward with the economic reform process contributes to increasing the volume of investments and growth, said Azour.

The IMF official identified four priorities to realise these goals: enhancing the business environment to support the economic prosperity, activating the role of the private sector as an engine for growth, lowering the energy cost for productive sectors and boosting the social security network for underprivileged citizens.

As for economic indicators, total exports of the Kingdom grew by 5.3 per cent by the end of April to JD1.752 billion, national exports by 5.9 per cent to JD1.455 billion and the tourism revenues went up 6.1 per cent by the end of April to $1.746 billion, according to Petra.