Jordan Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of water and other natural resources such as oil. Debt, poverty, and unemployment are fundamental problems, but King ABDALLAH, since assuming the throne in 1999, has undertaken some broad economic reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards. Amman in the past three years has worked closely with the IMF, practiced careful monetary policy, and made substantial headway with privatization. The government also has liberalized the trade regime sufficiently to secure Jordan's membership in the WTO (2000), a free trade accord with the US (2001), and an association agreement with the EU (2001). These measures have helped improve productivity and have put Jordan on the foreign investment map. Jordan imported most of its oil from Iraq, but the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 made Jordan more dependent on oil from other Gulf nations forcing the Jordanian government to raise retail petroleum product prices and the sales tax base. Jordan's export market, which is heavily dependent on exports to Iraq, was also affected by the war but recovered quickly while contributing to the Iraq recovery effort. The main challenges facing Jordan are reducing dependence on foreign grants, reducing the budget deficit, and creating investment incentives to promote job creation.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $25.5 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.1% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $4,500 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 2.4%
industry: 26%
services: 71.5% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
1.41 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 5%, industry 12.5%, services 82.5% (2001 est.)

Unemployment rate:
15% official rate; unofficial rate is approximately 30% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
30% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.3%
highest 10%: 29.8% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
36.4 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.2% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
11.6% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $3.483 billion
expenditures: $3.616 billion, including capital expenditures of $782 million (2004 est.)

Public debt:
85.8% of GDP (2004 est.)

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

Industries:
phosphate mining, pharmaceuticals, petroleum refining, cement, potash, inorganic chemicals, light manufacturing, tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
5% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production:
7.307 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
7.094 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
2 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
300 million kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
40 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
103,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - imports:
100,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - proved reserves:
445,000 bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production:
290 million cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
290 million cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
3.256 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance:
$203.2 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$3.2 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
clothing, phosphates, fertilizers, potash, vegetables, manufactures, pharmaceuticals

Exports - partners:
US 25.8%, Iraq 18.4%, India 6.4%, Saudi Arabia 5.2% (2004)

Imports:
$7.6 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
crude oil, textile fabrics, machinery, transport equipment, manufactured goods

Imports - partners:
Saudi Arabia 19.9%, China 8.4%, Germany 6.8%, US 6.7% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$5.457 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$7.32 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
ODA, $500 million (2004 est.)

Currency (code):
Jordanian dinar (JOD)

Exchange rates:
Jordanian dinars per US dollar - 0.709 (2004), 0.709 (2003), 0.709 (2002), 0.709 (2001), 0.709 (2000)