Jordan's King Abdullah II swore in a reformist government on Wednesday tasked with accelerating IMF-backed reforms and pushing through political and economic modernization crucial to reversing a decade of sluggish growth, officials said.
The Harvard-educated prime minister, Jafar Hassan, headed the monarch's office in his last job. Hasan has proven to be an able administrator during a long public career in which he oversaw economic reforms as a deputy premier and during a stint as planning minister, according to officials and politicians.
Politicians say a key task is accelerating IMF-guided reforms and reining in more than $50 billion in public debt in a country with high unemployment.
Veteran foreign minister Ayman Safadi kept his post in the new 32-member cabinet that includes moderates, tribal politicians and technocrats.
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.
The new finance minister Abdul Hakim al-Shibli, a seasoned economist, replaces veteran Mohammad al-Ississ who won praise from the IMF for stepping up reforms and maintaining fiscal prudence while avoiding austerity policies.
The previous government 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 COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
