Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said Tuesday that Jordan's economy had been hit hard by the refugee crisis resulting from regional conflicts and other external shocks.

Adnan Mazarei, Deputy Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, told Petra that Jordan had been widely praised for the humanitarian services it had been providing to refugees, which had increased government expenses and put new burdens on the treasury.

"It is important that the international community promptly aids Jordan to bear these burdens", said Mazarei, expressing hope that a donors' conference in London later this week will be a key opportunity to secure the necessary aid to the Kingdom.

He said Jordan had faced hardships and major economic shocks in recent years resulting from the disruptions in supplies of Egyptian gas, the regional conflicts and the global economic slowdown.

The IMF official said Jordan, due to the financial pressures imposed by the influx of refugees and foreign economic shocks, is suffering from a rising foreign debt, adding that it is vital that the international community turns loans to the Kingdom into grants to help it overcome these circumstances.

The Jordanian government's focus in its deliberations with the IMF, he said, is on creating jobs and the proper environment for the private sector to take its role in economic growth, which is a key goal that the IMF would welcome.

Mazarei pointed to economic and fiscal reforms Jordan had carried out in the last years, which, he said, had brought financial stability and helped to build reserves, adding that these were compatible with the goals set by the government in its programme with the IMF, which expired in August, 2015.

He said an IMF team will come to Jordan in the coming weeks to complete the discussion of the next extended programme, which began two months ago.