Is Jordan going to recession?

Judging by peoples’ stark and gloomy expectations, the national economy is rapidly moving from slowdown to recession. The annual real rate of growth has been inching down from 2.5 in 2017, to 2.1 in 2018 and, at best, 1.9 per cent in 2019.

What kept the economy afloat was that people expected that once the fiscal deficit is brought under control, private sector activities would witness a rise in effective demand. Should that happen, money would become easier, investments might pick up, unemployment would stay around 18 per cent and the threat of bankruptcy would fade away.

Since all of these positive signs did not materialise, expectations turned dire and actions based on such expectations helped reinforce the dynamics of the downfall.

The threats that Jared Kushner, the anti-Noel, is rumoured to have made in Jordan and Palestine have not been denied.

According to rumours, Kushner informed his interlocutors in Jordan, and indirectly to the Palestinian leadership, that the US will not stand by those who intercept Americas’ schemes in the region.

Such a threat would entail a large array of possibilities.

Ultra-religious Israelis in Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are continuously committing belligerent and truculent acts. The sheer silence of President Donald Trump on such heinous acts while chasing Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the two Muslim representatives in the Congress, is nothing short of shameful.

The Jordanian government is preoccupied with eking sufficient revenues to pay salaries at the end of each month. It is looking for new sources of revenue to cover the widening gap from places, which would cause the most manageable public wrath.

A Jordanian team fully devoted to developing the proper tools to close gaps, strengthen Achilles heels and develop a short-term salvation plan is needed.

Unless the real direction of the wind that blows, such an effort should be urgently mounted.