Jordan and the IMF

Jordan

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Resident Representative for Jordan

Kareem K. Ismail

Resident Representative

Office Information

P.O. Box 35296 Amman 11180, Jordan

Email: KIsmail@imf.org
Fax: (962) 6-5861572
Tel: (962) 6-5861598

Kareem K. Ismail, Resident Representative: Kareem Ismail has been serving as Resident Representative based in Amman since 2018, previously he covered Iraq and Yemen, and he has been covering Jordan since September 2020. Prior to this, Mr. Ismail worked in the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (SPR) and the African department of the IMF. In SPR, he co-authored various policy papers including on Fund lending and was SPR economist on Turkey and Albania, including covering the successful completion of the latter’s 2014 EFF program. He also served as team lead on the vulnerability exercise for low-income countries and as deputy on the IMF Risk group. In the African Department, he helped negotiate Liberia’s first program post debt relief under the HIPC initiative and was fiscal desk economist on Zambia. Prior to joining staff, Kareem was Advisor to the Executive Director at the IMF for the Middle East (2009-11). He holds a PhD in economics from the Johns Hopkins University.
Rayah Al-Farah, Economist: Rayah Al-Farah is an Economist at the Resident Representative Office of the IMF in Jordan. Prior to joining the team in Amman, she worked in the Middle East and Central Asia department of the IMF in Washington DC, covering the Caucasus and Turkmenistan. She has co-authored multiple IMF papers and has worked on a variety of research projects on inclusive growth, financial inclusion, social spending, private sector development, and macroprudential policies. Rayah holds a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College, and a Master’s in Global Human Development from Georgetown University.
Sana Almunizel, Administrative Assistant

Conference

Opportunity for All: Promoting Growth, Jobs, and Inclusiveness in the Arab World

January 29-30, 2018, Marrakesh, Morocco ►

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The last Article IV Executive Board Consultation was on March 25, 2020. Listed below are items related to Jordan.

Key Messages of the Staff Report- Conclusion of the IMF’s 1st EFF Review under the EFF with Jordan | Report

Available in Arabic

On December 14, 2020, the IMF Executive Board completed the 1^st Review under Jordan’s Extended Fund Facility Arrangement (EFF). Completion of the review released Fund financing in the amount of around US$148 million, bringing total IMF disbursements to Jordan in 2020 to US$689 million; this includes provision of US$400 million of emergency financing in May under the Rapid Financing Instrument. An additional amount of about US$1 billion is expected to be disbursed over the next three years.

The combination of containment measures and timely fiscal and monetary stimulus policies (supported by the international community) helped mitigate the health and economic impact of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the shock has taken a major toll on Jordan’s economy, with unemployment rising to a record high of 24 percent, and external and fiscal deficits widening significantly. Despite these difficult circumstances, the authorities continued to advance critical reforms, including institutionalizing the drive against tax evasion; improving tax administration; and strengthening the cash transfer program; while successfully maintaining external market access.
While there is considerable uncertainty around the economic forecast, staff expects real GDP to decline by 3 percent in 2020; and increase by 2.5 percent in 2021, reflecting a gradual recovery as the pandemic abates.
The Jordanian authorities remain committed to the objectives of the program agreed at the time of its approval in March 2020, i.e. to preserve medium-term macroeconomic stability; improve the efficiency of public finances; and support inclusive growth and job creation by advancing reforms to the labor market, electricity sector, business climate, and governance and transparency, in a manner that effectively protects the most vulnerable.
Taking into consideration Jordan’s challenges in coping with the impact of COVID-19 shock, the program for 2021 has been recalibrated. Specifically, the fiscal and foreign exchange reserve targets have been relaxed to ensure adequate resources to address continued health and economic challenges; and the program’s flexibility to deal with higher-than-expected COVID spending needs has been enhanced. Moreover, structural conditionality has been rephased to better align it with the authorities’ implementation capacity. These changes will help the authorities’ efforts to limit “scarring” (long-term economic damage from the crisis) and support the recovery.
The authorities have submitted a 2021 budget to Parliament that is consistent with the program and strikes an appropriate balance between the need to support the economy and ensuring debt sustainability. The authorities are making efforts to reduce tax evasion/avoidance, broaden the tax base, and improve the efficiency of public expenditures, to create space for critical public investment and targeted social spending to protect the most vulnerable.

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A Jordanian soldier greets people as they leave a Dead Sea resort, where they have been quarantined for 14 days. Tourism in Jordan has suffered during the pandemic. (photo: KHALIL MAZRAAWI/POOL/REUTERS)