Jordan's King Abdullah has designated key palace aide Jafar Hassan as prime minister after the government resigned on Sunday, the royal court said, days after a parliamentary election in which the Islamist opposition made some gains in the kingdom.
Hassan, now head of King Abdullah's office and a former planning minister, replaces Bisher Khasawneh, a veteran diplomat and former palace adviser who was appointed nearly four years ago, a royal court statement said.
Khasawneh will stay on in a caretaker capacity until the formation of a new cabinet, the statement said.
Harvard-educated Hassan, a widely respected technocrat, will face the challenges of mitigating the impact of the Gaza war on the kingdom's economy, hard-hit by curbs to investment and a sharp drop in tourism
In Hassan's appointment letter, the king said democracy should be strengthened in the country and that its economic future hinged on pushing ahead with donor-backed mega-infrastructure projects in energy and water.
The outgoing prime minister had sought to drive reforms pushed by King Abdullah to help reverse a decade of sluggish growth, hovering at around 2%, that was worsened by the pandemic and conflict in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
Politicians say a key task ahead is accelerating IMF-guided reforms and reining in more than $50 billion in public debt in a country with high unemployment and whose stability is supported by billions of dollars of foreign aid from Western donors.
Although the new composition of the 138-member parliament retains a pro-government majority, the more vocal Islamist-led opposition could challenge IMF-backed free-market reforms and foreign policy, diplomats and officials say.
Under Jordan's constitution, most powers still rest with the king, who appoints governments and can dissolve parliament. The assembly can force a cabinet to resign by a vote of no confidence.
