| Introduction - Jordan: |
| Location - Jordan: |
| People - Jordan: |
| Government - Jordan: |
| Economy - Jordan: |
Economy overview | Jordan is a small Arab country with insufficient supplies of water, oil, and other natural resources. Poverty, unemployment, and inflation 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. Since Jordans graduation from its most recent IMF program in 2002, Amman has continued to follow IMF guidelines, practicing careful monetary policy, and making substantial headway with privatization. In 2006, Jordan reduced its debt to GDP ratio significantly. The government also has liberalized the trade regime sufficiently to secure Jordans 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, and has forced the Jordanian Government to raise retail petroleum product prices and the sales tax base. Jordans 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 attracting investment to promote job creation. |
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Gdp purchasing power parity | $30 billion (2006 est.) |
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Gdp official exchange rate | $12.52 billion (2006 est.) |
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Gdp real growth rate | 6.3% (2006 est.) |
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Gdp per capita ppp | $5,100 (2006 est.) |
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Gdp composition by sector | agriculture: 3.6%
industry: 30.5%
services: 65.9% (2006 est.) |
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Labor force | 1.512 million (2006 est.) |
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Labor force by occupation | agriculture: 5%
industry: 12.5%
services: 82.5% (2001 est.) |
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Unemployment rate | 15.4% official rate; unofficial rate is approximately 30% (2006 est.) |
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Population below poverty line | 30% (2001 est.) |
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Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 3.3%
highest 10%: 29.8% (1997) |
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Distribution of family income gini index | 36.4 (1997) |
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Inflation rate consumer prices | 6.3% (2006 est.) |
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Investment gross fixed | 24.8% of GDP (2006 est.) |
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Budget | revenues: $4.88 billion
expenditures: $5.51 billion; including capital expenditures of $1.092 billion (2006 est.) |
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Public debt | 72.2% of GDP (30 September 2006 est.) |
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Agriculture products | citrus, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives; sheep, poultry, stone fruits, strawberries, dairy |
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Industries | clothing, phosphate mining, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, petroleum refining, cement, potash, inorganic chemicals, light manufacturing, tourism |
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Industrial production growth rate | 4.6% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity production | 8.431 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity consumption | 8.387 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity exports | 4 million kWh (2004) |
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Electricity imports | 550 million kWh (2004) |
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Oil production | 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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Oil consumption | 107,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) |
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Oil exports | 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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Oil imports | 106,400 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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Oil proved reserves | 1 million bbl (1 January 2005) |
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Natural gas production | 310 million cu m (2004 est.) |
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Natural gas consumption | 1.41 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
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Natural gas exports | 0 cu m (2004 est.) |
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Natural gas imports | 1.1 billion cu m (2004 est.) |
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Natural gas proved reserves | 6.23 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) |
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Current account balance | -$2.834 billion (2006 est.) |
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Exports | $4.798 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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Exports commodities | clothing, pharmaceuticals, potash, phosphates, fertilizers, vegetables, manufactures |
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Exports partners | US 25.3%, Iraq 17%, India 8.1%, Saudi Arabia 5.8%, Syria 4.7% (2006) |
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Imports | $10.42 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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Imports commodities | crude oil, textile fabrics, machinery, transport equipment, manufactured goods |
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Imports partners | Saudi Arabia 22.9%, Germany 8.1%, China 7.9%, US 5.2% (2006) |
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $6.57 billion (October 2006) |
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Debt external | $7.3 billion (31 September 2006) |
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Economic aid recipient | ODA, $752 million (2005 est.) |
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Currency code | Jordanian dinar (JOD) |
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Exchange rates | Jordanian dinars per US dollar - 0.709 (2006), 0.709 (2005), 0.709 (2004), 0.709 (2003), 0.709 (2002) |
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| Communications - Jordan: |
| Transportation - Jordan: |
| Military - Jordan: |
This page was last updated on 16 September, 2007
