Jordan Economy 1997

Economy - overview Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water andother natural resources such as oil and coal. Jordan benefited from increased Arab aid during the oil boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when itsannual real GNP growth averaged more than 10%. In the remainder of the 1980s,however, reductions in both Arab aid and worker remittances slowed real economicgrowth to an average of roughly 2% per year. Imports - mainly oil, capitalgoods, consumer durables, and food - outstripped exports, with the differencecovered by aid, remittances, and borrowing. In mid-1989, the Jordanian Governmentbegan debt-rescheduling negotiations and agreed to implement an IMF-supportedprogram designed to gradually reduce the budget deficit and implement badlyneeded structural reforms. The Persian Gulf crisis that began in August 1990,however, aggravated Jordan's already serious economic problems, forcing thegovernment to shelve the IMF program, stop most debt payments, and suspendrescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states, worker remittances,and trade contracted; and refugees flooded the country, producing seriousbalance-of-payments problems, stunting GDP growth, and straining governmentresources. The economy rebounded in 1992, largely due to the influx of capitalrepatriated by workers returning from the Gulf, but the recovery was unevenin 1994-96. The government is implementing the reform program adopted in 1992and continues to secure rescheduling and write-offs of its heavy foreign debt. Debt, poverty, and unemployment remain Jordan's biggest on-going problems.

GDP purchasing power parity - $20.9 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 5.9% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $5,000 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 6%
industry: 28%
services : 66% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 4.5% (1996 est.)

Labor force
total : 600,000 (1992)
by occupation: industry 11.4%, commerce, restaurants, and hotels 10.5%, construction10.0%, transport and communications 8.7%, agriculture 7.4%, other services52.0% (1992)

Unemployment rate 16% (1994 est.)

Budget
revenues : $2.7 billion
expenditures: $2.8 billion, including capital expenditures of $630 million (1997 est.)

Industries phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light manufacturing

Industrial production growth rate 3.9% (1995)

Electricity - capacity 1.07 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production 4.76 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita 1,173 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products wheat, barley, citrus, tomatoes, melons, olives; sheep, goats, poultry

Exports
total value : $1.9 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures
partners: India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, EU, Indonesia, UAE

Imports
total value: $4.1 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities : crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals, manufacturedgoods
partners: EU, US, Iraq, Japan, Turkey

Debt - external $7.3 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $238 million (1993)

Currency 1 Jordanian dinar (JD) = 1,000 fils

Exchange rates Jordanian dinars (JD) per US$1 - 0.7090 (January 1997), 0.7090 (1996),0.7005 (1995), 0.6987 (1994), 0.6928 (1993), 0.6797 (1992)
note: since May 1989, the dinar has been pegged to a basket of currencies

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Jordan on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Jordan Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Jordan Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.