Gov't 'fully committed' to reform programme with IMF – minister

AMMAN — The government is "committed to" the economic and financial reform programme agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mohannad Shehadeh has recently said.

Following a meeting with journalists on Saturday, Shehadeh, who also heads the ministerial economic team, told The Jordan Times, "We are fully committed to reform programme with the IMF."

The minister said that the government and the IMF both agree on the "end results" but the former decides the mechanism to reach them. 

"The economic impact rather than the financial one is what matters most for the government," he said.  

The IMF Executive Board approved in November a new 4-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement with Jordan, in the amount of about $1.2 billion, to support the government's economic programme. 

In its website, the IMF commended Jordan's fiscal policies and its ability to maintain stability despite a series of shocks.  "Building on Jordan’s consistently strong performance under the previous programme, the new EFF arrangement will support the authorities’ efforts toward maintaining macro-stability, further building resilience, and accelerating structural reforms to achieve stronger, more inclusive growth and job creation." 

The IMF staff and the government have reached a staff level agreement on the second review with Jordan under EFF. 

"All commitments for the second review under the programme have been met, demonstrating the authorities’ steadfast commitment to sound macro-economic policies and continued progress on reforms, "according to an IMF statement.  

The Kingdom's economy is expected to grow by 2.3 per cent in 2024 and 2.5 per cent in 2025. Yet, strong and timely international support remains important to help Jordan face the external headwinds, and to continue to shoulder the cost of hosting a large number of Syrian refugees. 

Bringing the Jordanian economy onto a higher growth trajectory is essential to create more jobs and raise prosperity, said the statement.

This requires accelerating structural reforms, while maintaining macro-economic stability, and making significant progress in implementing the Kingdom's Economic Modernisation Vision, IMF said. 

The IMF statement commended Jordan ability to access financial markets while promoting social protection networks and that major progress has been achieved in implementing structural reforms to boost overall economic growth.