Standard & Poor's, a credit rating agency, expects a rise in the total public debt in Jordan, including secured debt, municipalities, and securitized arrears, to 112 percent of GDP in 2020.
According to the agency, the pressures associated with the emerging Coronavirus crisis will lead to a restriction of economic activity in 2020, but in return the agency expects a gradual recovery from 2021, with an average real GDP growth rate of 2.5 percent during the years 2021-2023.
These indicators will complicate the Jordanian government's plans to revive the economy, as it is expected that the debt will constitute a great burden that will burden the already exhausted public budget in light of the stagnant production due to the repercussions of the epidemic and the shrinking of tourism.
The repercussions of the epidemic have deepened social problems due to the decline in purchasing power and the rise in unemployment, as well as the economic downturn and the decline in the pace of investments related to health and global factors in light of the decline in the global economy and the movement of aviation.
In this regard, the agency announced that it is working to include the accounts of the Social Security Institution and local governments in the definition of the general government, according to its sovereign standards, expecting that the general government deficit will gradually decrease to nearly the 2019 level of 0.6 percent of GDP by 2023.
Source (Al-Arab London newspaper, Edited)
