Jordan's debt rose to $44.3 billion, an increase of about $1.84 billion during the first third of this year, accounting for 101.7% of GDP, compared to 96.7% at the end of 2019.
The World Bank expected that the public debt in Jordan will reach a level of more than 107% of the estimated GDP for the current year, due to the effects of the Corona pandemic crisis, and that the debt will continue to grow as a percentage of the GDP, reaching 108.5% during the next year.
It is expected that the Jordanian government will continue borrowing from inside and abroad to cover the budget deficit, in addition to facing the burdens resulting from the Corona crisis, especially with the decline in local revenues and the need for many economic sectors for assistance.
The steady rise in public indebtedness places heavy burdens on the Jordanian economy for many years, as the burdens of loan installments and their interest will increase, and it has been impossible to implement many of the priority development projects and programs that the country needs at this stage.
In addition, Jordan's public debt exceeded 10 years ago the target percentage in the Public Debt Management Law, which the government issued to oblige itself not to expand borrowing from inside and abroad, but it bypassed the law and did not implement it at all.
Source (New Arab newspaper, Edited)
