Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan’s public debt has surged to JOD21.1 billion, after it inched up by 2.7 per cent or JOD550 million in the first three months of the current year, government data indicates.

The Arab nation’s public debt now comprises 77.8 per cent of its estimated gross domestic product (GDP) for 2015, compared with 80.8 per cent in the same period last year, the country’s finance ministry says in a report.

The ministry explains that the rise in the Kingdom’s public debt in the January-March period is driven mainly by the higher value of loans of the nation’s electricity and water authorities.

Jordan was forced to switch to a costlier heavy fuel to generate electricity after the country’s supplies of natural gas from Egypt suffered major disruptions as a result of attacks on a gas pipeline in the Sinai Peninsula.

The aggregate financial deficit of the National Electric Power Company stands now at JOD4.78bn, comprising 17.6 per cent of net public debt, the figures cited by Al Rai show.

*AME info