Economy (Jordan)
================


     Overview:
         Jordan benefited from increased Arab aid during the oil boom of the late
         1970s and early 1980s, when its annual GNP growth averaged more than 10%. In
         the remainder of the 1980s, however, reductions in both Arab aid and worker
         remittances slowed economic growth to an average of roughly 2% per year.
         Imports - mainly oil, capital goods, consumer durables, and food - have been
         outstripping exports, with the difference covered by aid, remittances, and
         borrowing. In mid-1989, the Jordanian Government began debt-rescheduling
         negotiations and agreed to implement an IMF program designed to gradually
         reduce the budget deficit and implement badly needed structural reforms. The
         Persian Gulf crisis that began in August 1990, however, aggravated Jordan's
         already serious economic problems, forcing the government to shelve the IMF
         program, stop most debt payments, and suspend rescheduling negotiations. Aid
         from Gulf Arab states and worker remittances have plunged, and refugees have
         flooded the country, straining government resources. Economic recovery is
         unlikely without substantial foreign aid, debt relief, and economic reform.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $3.6 billion, per capita $1,100; real growth rate
         3% (1991 est.)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         9% (1991 est.)
     Unemployment rate:
         40% (1991 est.)
     Budget:
         revenues $1.7 billion; expenditures $1.9 billion, including capital
         expenditures of $NA (1992)
     Exports:
         $1.0 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
       commodities:
         phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures
       partners:
         India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, UAE, China
     Imports:
         $2.3 billion (c.i.f., 1991 est.)
       commodities:
         crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals, manufactured
         goods
       partners:
         EC, US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Turkey
     External debt:
         $9 billion (December 1991 est.)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 1% (1991 est.); accounts for 20% of GDP
     Electricity:
         1,025,000 kW capacity; 3,900 million kWh produced, 1,150 kWh per capita
         (1991)
     Industries:
         phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light manufacturing
     Agriculture:
         accounts for about 7% of GDP; principal products are wheat, barley, citrus
         fruit, tomatoes, melons, olives; livestock - sheep, goats, poultry; large
         net importer of food
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.7 billion; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.5 billion; OPEC
         bilateral aid (1979-89), $9.5 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $44
         million
     Currency:
         Jordanian dinar (plural - dinars); 1 Jordanian dinar (JD) = 1,000 fils