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Jordan’s Public Debt Increases to $41 Bln

Visitors tour the Amman Citadel, Jordan, July 21, 2022. (Reuters)
Visitors tour the Amman Citadel, Jordan, July 21, 2022. (Reuters)
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Jordan’s Public Debt Increases to $41 Bln

Visitors tour the Amman Citadel, Jordan, July 21, 2022. (Reuters)
Visitors tour the Amman Citadel, Jordan, July 21, 2022. (Reuters)

Jordan’s public debt rose 1.6 percent to 29.16 billion dinars ($41 billion) in the first half of 2022 from 28.7 billion dinars at the end of 2021.

Its domestic debt reached 13.89 billion dinars at the end of H1, while its foreign debt reached 15.26 billion dinars, according to statistics posted on the Ministry of Finance's website.

Jordan's public debt now stands at 88.4 percent of its GDP.

As part of a deal with the International Monetary Fund, the Ministry of Finance announced early last year that its debts, which amounted to almost 7 billion dinars, would be excluded from the Social Security Investment Fund.

Jordan has warned of the notable drop in international support to refugees in the Middle East and to the relevant UN agencies.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi in Amman, where he stressed the need for mobilizing joint action to provide a decent life for refugees and help host countries shoulder the burden of hosting them.

Safadi praised the solid partnership between Jordan and the UNHCR to present necessary services to about 1.3 million Syrians residing in Jordan.

He also underlined the role of the UNHCR in supporting refugees and keeping their cause alive on the international agenda.

The officials agreed to intensify efforts to rally international support for refugees.

Also on Sunday, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh discussed with Grandi the economic challenges facing the kingdom due to the burden refugees pose on Jordan’s infrastructure, education, health, water and job opportunities.

He urged the international community and donor countries to continue to provide necessary support to host communities.

Jordan hosts almost 650,000 Syrians registered with the United Nations, but Amman estimates close to 1.3 million Syrians had arrived since 2011 when the conflict in the neighboring country erupted.

Jordan has said it has spent over 12 billion dollars on hosting them.

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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, effectively kicks Gazprombank out of the US banking system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its US assets, Reuters reported.
Gazprombank is one of Russia's largest banks and is partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been urging the US to impose more sanctions on the bank, which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.
The fresh sanctions come days after the Biden administration allowed Kyiv to use US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, Ukraine fired the weapons, the longest range missiles Washington has supplied for such attacks on Russia, on the war's 1,000th day.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 50 small-to-medium Russian banks to curtail the country's connections to the international financial system and prevent it from abusing it to pay for technology and equipment needed for the war. It warned that foreign financial institutions that maintain correspondent relationships with the targeted banks "entails significant sanctions risk."
"This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine."
Gazprombank said Washington's latest move would not affect its operations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Along with the sanctions, Treasury also issued two new general licenses authorizing US entities to wind down transactions involving Gazprombank, among other financial institutions, and to take steps to divest from debt or equity issued by Gazprombank.
Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury said. The Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers, including for combat bonuses, and to compensate the families of its soldiers killed in the war.
The administration believes the new sanctions improve Ukraine's position on the battlefield and ability to achieve a just peace, a source familiar with the matter said.
COLLATERAL IMPACT
While Gazprombank has been on the administration's radar for years, it has been seen as a last resort because of its focus on energy and the desire to avoid collateral impact on Europe, a Washington-based trade lawyer said.
"I think that the current administration is trying to put as much pressure and add as many sanctions as possible prior to January 20th to make it harder for the next administration to unwind," said the lawyer, Douglas Jacobson.
Officials in Slovakia and Hungary said they were studying the impacts of the new US sanctions.
Trump would have the power to remove the sanctions, which were imposed under an executive order by Biden, if he wants to take a different stance, Jacobson said.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, the Treasury placed debt and equity restrictions on 13 Russian firms, including Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Russian Agricultural Bank.
The US Treasury has also worked to provide Ukraine with funds from windfall proceeds of frozen Russian assets.