When the Ministry of Finance submitted its draft budget for 2017 to Parliament, the final figures for 2016 were not ready yet.For comparison, the ministry used estimates for 2016 to judge the reasonableness of the new budget figures, comparing them to the estimated figures of the

In his recent meeting to brief Al Rai newspaper journalists, Prime Minister Hani Mulki, referring to the state of the economy, assured that there is light at the end of the tunnel.That was, of course, an optimistic statement indicating that economic recovery is at hand, perhaps s

Our officials and economists are used to account for public debt as one amount, irrespective of whether it is local debt, denominated in Jordanian dinars, or external debt, denominated in foreign currency.Strangely enough, IMF experts also dealt with Jordan’s public debt as one b

Sixteen years after the establishment of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ), it is high time to examine the economics of this grand and costly project that promised much, but failed to deliver.As a starting point, it is important to point out the fact that all the revenues co

Nothing in the government’s plans for 2016 or in economic reform programme agreed upon with the IMF said that Jordan’s public debt, in absolute figures, must be reduced in 2016.As a matter of fact, the programme is dealing with debt not in absolute figures, but as a percentage of

At this time, when external grants receivable by the Treasury, whether Arab or foreign, are on the decline, Jordan may have no choice but to adopt a policy of financial self-sufficiency, accompanied by all the suffering that may go with such an adjustment.Self-sufficiency is nice

The latest data on unemployment during the fourth quarter of 2016 shows that the rate stood at 15.8 per cent, compared to 15.9 per cent in the previous quarter.This means that unemployment has stabilised, but at a very high level not reached at any time in the last 10 years.It mi

There is at last some good news that is worth mentioning. The steady decline of the central bank’s reserves in gold and foreign exchange came finally to an end.

The World Bank continues to practise its hobby of issuing economic projections that never happen, not even by accident.The latest projection by the World Bank was that the rate of economic growth in Jordan would be 2.3 per cent in 2016 and 2.6 per cent in 2017.Both rates are way