The Jordanian Ministry of Treasury recently reported that the country’s public debt dropped to 5.931 billion Jordanian dinars ($8.3 billion) at the end of April, which is equivalent to 94 percent of the projected total GDP value for the present year.
By the end of 2000, public debt amounted to JD 5.958 billion, equaling the total GDP, according to the London based Al-Hayat daily. This implies a decline of 6.8 percent of the pubic debt’s value of the Kingdom’s GDP.
The recent drop in Jordan’s debt has been attributed to the country’s efforts to reduce spending. Despite the decline, the high debt rate has hindered efforts to achieve and sustain desired growth rates and the debt still represents the major weakness of the county’s economy.
Last year, 55 percent of Jordan’s external debt was owed to the Paris Club, which had previously rescheduled payments sum five times. The largest industrial country creditor was Japan, followed by France.
Jordan signed various debt-swap agreements with France, Spain, Britain, Germany and Italy, to exchange the debt for development and investment projects in Jordan. Two were signed in 1999 with both France and Spain, while five have been signed thus far with Germany. ― (MENA Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
