Public debt stands at JD28.3b by 2018’s end

AMMAN — The Kingdom's public debt reached JD28.3 billion by the end of 2018, split between JD25 billion of central government debt (the budget) and JD3.3 billion as a government guaranteed loan, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

According to data announced monthly by the Central Bank of Jordan and the Finance Ministry, the net national debt of Jordan, which is the sum of the government's internal and external debts along with the loans of the private sector obtained through local banks, reached JD63.8 billion at the end of last year.

The external debt of both the government and the private sector was estimated at JD22.2 billion by the end of 2018, while the net internal debt to local banks for the government and the private sector reached JD35.2 billion and internal debt granted from non-banking sources hit JD6.4 billion.

According to a Finance Ministry statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, public debt data are announced on a monthly base in the ministry’s financial bulletins in accordance with data issued by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank websites. 

The ministry noted in the statement that it does not publish the net national debt in its financial bulletin, but only the public debt, which includes the central government’s debt within the general budget and independent units’ debt that is covered by the government, and excludes the private sector’s borrowings, in accordance with the 2001 Public Debt Law No.26 and its amendments and the international standards for the disclosure of financial statements.