AMMAN — The
Jordanian government announced,
coinciding with the
Dead Sea retreat on the occasion of the one-year
anniversary of the
economic modernization vision, a noticeable increase in the
external debt facing the Kingdom. The external debt of the Kingdom has now
reached at least JD 39 billion, with an unspecified percentage increase, which
means it is close to surpassing the $55 billion mark in the near future if the
public debt continues at its current pace.
اضافة اعلان
The government did not transparently
explain the reasons for the increase in external debt, but experts close to
decision-making circles suggest that the plan to reduce external debt and its
benefits, as well as self-reliance, collapsed after two years of the
COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic challenges that exceeded the capacity and
capability of the
Jordanian economy, Rai Al-Youm reported.
Failures to draw investments
While the external debt has clearly
increased and now exceeds at least $50 billion, the Central Bank recently
released data indicating an over 30 percent decrease in
foreign investments entering the country for the past year. This is seen as an indication of the
failure of the
economic modernization vision to attract foreign investments,
which aimed to create 100,000 job opportunities for Jordanians over ten years
and increase economic growth to predetermined levels through attracting at
least $10 billion of
investments annually.
This did not materialize in the past year;
on the contrary, foreign investments decreased by 30 percent, despite the
issuance of the new Investment Environment Law, which the government focused on
for several months with the goal of strengthening the
legislative framework to
attract foreign investments.
Renegotiating with the IMF
A government source suggests that there is
an urgent need for slight adjustments to some details and observations on the
margins of the agreement or the
modernization vision agreed upon during the
sixth round of negotiations with the IMF last year. This is made clear with the
current deficit in foreign investments as according to the plan.
As these adjustments are considered
crucial,
Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh has tasked the financial team, along with the
Central Bank governor, to renegotiate with the IMF to reach a
new reform program. Reports indicate that these negotiations have already begun.
Despite some optimism about a slight
increase in
economic growth rates in the first half of the current year,
especially in the tourism sector, which saw significant activity, experts
believe that this activity is not solely due to government incentives, plans,
and programs. Instead, it is largely a result of global and regional conditions
and the flexibility and adaptability shown by investors in the tourism sector.
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