Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The World Bank has forecast Jordan's economy (gross domestic product) growth rate to hit 2.3 percent during 2020, with a slight spike in 2021 by 2.5%.

In a report entitled "How Transparency Can Help the Middle East and North Africa MENA," the bank said the recent global developments in light of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have a substantially negative impact on MENA's growth prospects in the new term.

This impact, the bank noted, would be largely transmitting through slowdown in major export and regional markets, reduced international travel and foreign inflows, and disruption in the services sector, as social distancing measures are rigorously enforced.

On the flip side, the bank said lower oil prices are helping reduce oil’s import bill, and to some extent limit the current account deterioration although its impact on remittances and international concessional financing, especially from the GCC could partly offset the reduced import bill.