AMMAN — The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Monday
the disbursement of $335.2 million to Jordan as a part of the country’s
four-year, $1.5 billion economic reform loan agreement. This latest installment
comes with the approval of the IMF executive board after the successful completion
of a third review of the country's four-year program.
اضافة اعلان
IMF disbursements to Jordan since the start of 2020 total about
$1.23 billion, including a purchase of about $407 million in May 2020 under the
IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument earmarked specifically for the offset of COVID-19
related expenses.
According to the IMF, Jordan’s program remains on track
despite heightened spending related to the costs of the pandemic. Speaking after the conclusion of staff-level
agreements on the third review back in November,
IMF team leader S. Ali Abbas stated that “preventive actions and a robust vaccination campaign mitigated the
effects of recent COVID-19 variants through the summer. Helped by the economic
reopening, a recovery supported by targeted fiscal and monetary measures is
underway with real GDP growth expected around two percent in 2021.”
This sentiment was confirmed in
Monday’s press release by
Kenji Okamura, deputy managing director and acting chair of the IMF Executive
Board, who stated that “despite challenging circumstances, sound policies have
helped maintain macroeconomic stability, and the structural reform momentum has
endured. In addition, a robust vaccination campaign helped underpin a gradual
reopening of the economy and usher in a nascent recovery.”
Okamura also noted that despite Jordan reaching most of its
economic targets, unemployment in the country does remain high, particularly
among youth and women, and further acknowledged that Jordan bears a
disproportionate economic load in caring for over a million refugees from Syria
and other countries in the region.
However, Jordanian economist and investment specialist Wajdi Makhamreh
believes that Jordan’s government will use the new IMF disbursement to ease
some of these financial burdens.
In response to the news of the latest disbursement, Makhrameh
noted that “the quantitative targets have been met, and the government is
continuing its progress on reforms. Despite high unemployment, the IMF believes
the economic recovery is underway, with real GDP projected to be 2 percent this
year and possibly as high as 2.7 percent in 2022.”
He also expressed his belief in the Jordanian government’s
genuine commitment to structural reforms and stated that “steady progress on
structural reforms to support female labor force participation, enhance labor
market flexibility, promote competition, reduce the cost of doing business, and
enhance good governance and transparency,” will not only aid Jordan’s recovery
but also ensure that it continues to maintain a strong and beneficial
relationship with the IMF as a key lender.
Yousef Damra, also a Jordanian economist, noted that the
positive review and ensuing disbursement from the IMF contribute to enhancing
Jordan’s international reputation, as they show the international community
that Jordan is serious in its pursuit to reform and restructure its economy.
He stated that the review led to Jordan’s
Fitch credit rating being
revised from “negative” to “stable.” Fitch, along with Moody’s and Standard and
Poor, is one of the world’s “big three” credit rating agencies, and their
evaluations will play a key factor when Jordan seeks to borrow two billion
dollars from international markets in the next fiscal year.
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