The International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for the Jordanian economy for the current year, by a contraction of 5 percent, after previous expectations indicated a contraction of 3.7 percent. The Fund also expected that the growth rate in 2021 for Jordan will reach about 3.4 percent. This offsets part of the losses in the results achieved in the GDP for the year 2020.
The IMF suggested that price inflation will decline by 0.3 percent for the current year, compared to an increase in the inflation rate of 0.7 percent last year, expecting the prices to rise again by 1.4 percent next year.
The fund expected that the current account would record a deficit of 6.8 percent of GDP for the current year, compared with a current account deficit of only 2.3 percent last year. The current account deficit will recede to 5.7 percent next year.
In April, the Fund approved a four-year loan program worth $1.3 billion to support financial stability and economic growth in Jordan.
In the World Economic Outlook, the Fund expected an improvement in the global economy during the current year, lowering its forecast for the global contraction to 4.4 percent, but its expectations were more negative for the Jordanian economy, especially in terms of deepening the contraction.
Source (Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Edited)
