Ministerial delegation discusses Jordan’s economy with World Bank, IMF officials

AMMAN — A Jordanian ministerial delegation on Monday held a number of meetings with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC to discuss measures aimed at promoting economic growth.

The delegation, which includes the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Energy, also followed up on the progress of the five-year matrix for reforms, which are structural in nature and cover various areas such as business environment and investments, according to a Planning Ministry statement.

The ministerial delegation will hold other meetings with IMF officials to complement the discussions held by the fund in Amman over the past two weeks, the statement noted.

Through the Amman meetings, an agreement was reached on a new four-year programme that includes a number of structural reforms and focuses on driving growth that leads to job creation while maintaining financial and monetary stability.

The new programme, which was announced last week in Amman by Minister of Finance Mohamad Al-Ississ and IMF mission Chief Chris Jarvis, aims to enhance transparency and foster the social safety net.

It also includes measures to reduce costs in productive sectors, but does not include tax increases or new taxes, rather adopting a methodology to combat tax and customs evasion, the statement said.