Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan faces “a severe debt crisis due to low economic growth as a result of closed borders, reduced international assistance and low economic productivity”, states Dr Mary Kawar, Jordan’s minister of planning and international cooperation.

Debt is 95 per cent of GDP. Unemployment was 18.7 per cent during the last quarter; youth unemployment has reached 35 per cent. “We used to have five-year plans. Now we have medium-term, two-year plans due to so many crises [in the region],” says Kawar.

After the 2011 Arab Spring, Egypt stopped the supply of cheap natural gas, making energy costs for manufacturing and households extremely high, she says. “We are the second most water-poor country in the world so can you imagine [the crisis] if you add 1.3 million people.”

Jordan needs to increase exports and investment but cannot compete with goods manufactured in Gulf countries or export to Europe.

*Irish Times