Jordan has successfully maintained monetary and financial stability despite the difficulties, announced the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Jordan needs to accelerate the pace of structural economic reforms to push growth beyond the 2 to 3 percent it has recorded on average over the past years to reduce the high unemployment rates.
Leading the IMF mission, Ron van Rooden, said that unemployment was still high, at 22.9 percent, particularly among the youth and women, asserting that "structural reforms are essential for achieving strong and inclusive growth and creating more jobs."
Van Rooden noted that the reforms include enhancing the ease of doing business and reducing the cost of doing business, promoting competition, increasing labor market flexibility, and improving governance and transparency.
He indicated that the post-pandemic recovery continues, with real GDP expected to grow by 2.6 percent in 2023. However, it remains insufficient to improve the living standards of about 11 million people.
The IMF official, ending a visit to conduct the sixth review of the country's IMF-backed program, said Jordan remained firmly on track with crucial program targets met and progress through prudent monetary and fiscal policies.
"Despite a challenging global and regional environment, Jordan has maintained macroeconomic stability," van Rooden said.
He added that Jordan's macroeconomic stability had helped it tap more favorable interest rates from international capital markets than other sovereign countries when it issued last month's Eurobond worth $1.25 billion.
"We are calling Jordan a success story because they have consistently implemented sound macroeconomic policy, fiscal policy, monetary policy."
Jordan's Finance Minister Mohammed al-Ississ commented that the four-year IMF-backed program, scheduled to end next year, helped maintain economic stability amid difficult global conditions.
Van Rooden indicated that inflation is on the way to decline to 2.7 percent in 2023, compared to 3.8, with a tight monetary policy that helped to curb global inflationary pressures.
