Dr. Hamad Kasasbeh

Domestic revenues in Jordan’s 2026 budget cover about 89% of current expenditure. That is not a marginal figure: it means that most current spending is already financed from within. At the same time, foreign grants to the budget are estimated at roughly JD735 million, while interest payments are approaching JD2.26 billion—more than three times the value of grants. This is where the central question begins: if Jordan already has this domestic base, how can it turn it into a budget that is more capable of financing national priorities from within and less sensitive to changing financing conditions?

This question does not assume that grants will stop, nor does it diminish the value of international partnerships that have helped Jordan manage pressures and finance essential projects. On the contrary, the presence of these partnerships today makes this the right time to build greater self-reliance. Fiscal strength is not built after circumstances change; it is built when resources are available and can be redirected toward lasting capacity. The objective is not a budget without partners, but partnerships whose impact becomes deeper as Jordan’s economy stands on a stronger base of its own resources.

The starting point is domestic revenue. The mistake would be to reduce the issue to finding new burdens for the already compliant base. A stronger budget is not built by applying higher rates to the same tax base, but by expanding an economy that produces, invests, exports, and operates formally. As the productive base widens, compliance improves, e-invoicing expands, and more informal activity enters the formal economy, the state can generate more revenue without increasing the burden on compliant taxpayers. Reviewing exemptions and incentives according to the investment, jobs, and local value they actually create can make stronger revenues the result of a stronger economy, not a substitute for one.

Another major opportunity lies in the cost of debt. With interest payments nearing JD2.26 billion, reducing financing costs and improving maturities is more than sound financial management; it is a way to reclaim fiscal space for investment, services, and social protection. Jordan is already moving toward improving the structure of public debt, managing maturities, and lowering costs, and that direction can be reinforced whenever markets create opportunities to refinance more expensive obligations. Debt-for-development swaps can also play a role, either by reducing part of the principal or redirecting debt service toward projects in water, energy, the green economy, technical education, and productive investment. Where conditions permit, part of a financial obligation should become an asset that remains inside the economy.

The deeper transformation, however, takes place outside the budget itself. A budget ultimately reflects the economy behind it; a state becomes more self-reliant not simply because it collects more, but because it produces more. The question about investment therefore cannot stop at how much capital entered the country. What matters more is what it left behind: how many jobs it created, how many local suppliers it engaged, how many exports it added, and how much knowledge it transferred. In this context, the announced policy that government projects offered for investment should include at least 30% local participation is important because it can increase the share of expertise, supply-chain activity, and value added retained within Jordan’s economy.

This is the distinction between covering needs and building capacity. The first addresses an existing obligation; the second expands the economy’s ability to finance future obligations. The same principle applies to grants: the most important measure is not only their value when they enter the budget, but what remains in the economy after they are spent. A grant that reduces water losses or energy costs, supports the green economy, digital infrastructure or exports, or facilitates a debt swap can leave an impact well beyond the fiscal year. Partnership then moves from helping cover a need to building accumulated economic capacity.

Jordan does not need fewer partnerships; it needs partnerships that leave its economy stronger. And the debate over grants should not begin with the question, “What if they stop?” A more important question is: “What are we building with them while they are available?” The wider the productive base, the lower the cost of debt, and the more external resources are converted into assets, investment, and knowledge, the more capable the budget becomes of financing national priorities from within. The true measure of self-reliance is not how much less comes from abroad, but how much more production, capacity, and value is created at home.