The Jordanian Finance Minister hoped that the growth rate would recover to 2.5 percent in 2021, following a 3 percent contraction in 2020, due to the closures and a sharp decline in tourism which hit the economic activity.

Minister Mohamad Al-Ississ confirmed to the Parliament that the 2021 forecast, consistent with the estimates of the International Monetary Fund, depends on the absence of more large closures.

The gradual reopening of most of the major corporate and industry activities since last summer had contributed to the improvement of the IMF’s estimates, after they had included a sharp contraction of 5 percent.

The collapse of tourism and the decline in remittances from workers abroad put pressure on the public finances and the balance of payments, while unemployment jumped to a record high of 22 percent due to bankruptcies and layoffs.

Al-Ississ stressed that the main objective of the current year's budget of 9.9 billion dinars (14 billion dollars) is to maintain financial stability. He furtherly affirmed that Jordan's commitment to IMF reforms and investor confidence in improving its economic outlook, helped to maintain a stable sovereign credit rating at a time when ratings in other emerging markets were downgraded.

On the other hand, figures of the Central Bank of Jordan showed that foreign exchange reserves stabilized last year at $12.17 billion, compared to their level at the end of 2019.

The foreign reserves in Jordan have been negatively affected since the beginning of 2016 due to the slowdown in remittances from expatriates, tourism income and foreign investment.

In 2020, measures were imposed to contain the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which negatively affected economic activity in the Kingdom.

Source (Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)