The global economy can no longer be understood separately from geopolitics. Wars and conflicts are no longer confined to the countries in which they occur. Their economic consequences travel rapidly across borders, affecting energy and food prices, trade and investment flows, transportation and insurance costs, and even the decisions of central banks and fiscal authorities.
This message was clearly reflected in His Majesty King Abdullah’s address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The King emphasized that the crises affecting the region do not remain within its borders. Their consequences can be felt in the energy and food bills of households thousands of miles away. He also highlighted how war can transmit instability rapidly through trade, investment, and the daily lives of people far beyond the immediate conflict zone.
From an economic perspective, this points to the growing importance of geopolitical shock transmission. When a major trade route is disrupted or an important source of energy comes under threat, the economic cost is not borne only by the countries directly involved in the conflict. It is transmitted through higher transportation, insurance, and production costs across other economies. Rising energy and logistics costs eventually feed into consumer prices, creating inflationary pressures even in countries far removed from the conflict itself.
For Jordan, this issue is particularly significant. The Jordanian economy remains closely connected to developments in the region through trade, energy, tourism, remittances, and foreign investment. Regional stability is therefore not simply a political or security concern. It is also an important economic variable that influences investment decisions, external balances, growth, and employment.
At the same time, recent indicators demonstrate that the Jordanian economy has developed a meaningful capacity to absorb external shocks. Real GDP growth reached 2.93 percent in the first quarter of 2026, while inflation stood at 2.2 percent during the first eight months of the year. Foreign exchange reserves reached approximately $28.4 billion at the end of August, while the current account deficit stood at 2.2 percent of GDP in the first quarter.
These indicators matter because economic resilience is ultimately about the ability to absorb shocks without allowing temporary external disruptions to become persistent domestic imbalances. This is where the relationship between security, stability, and economic performance becomes particularly important.
An economy operating in a volatile regional environment needs adequate economic buffers. These include strong foreign exchange reserves, a sound banking system, sustainable public finances, diversified sources of energy, broader export markets, stronger domestic production, and higher productivity and competitiveness.
Economic resilience, however, should not be understood simply as the ability to maintain short-term monetary and financial stability. Genuine resilience means the ability to sustain economic growth, investment, and employment even when external conditions deteriorate. This requires moving from an economy that merely reacts to crises toward one that is structurally prepared for them.
For Jordan, this means diversifying the productive base, expanding exports, strengthening industry, improving productivity, attracting greater private investment, and reducing the economy’s exposure to fluctuations in tourism, energy prices, and remittance flows. The objective should not simply be to withstand the next shock, but to ensure that the economy emerges from it with greater capacity to grow.
Perhaps the most important economic message emerging from the King’s address is that stability is no longer merely a political prerequisite for economic activity. It has become an economic asset in its own right.
An investor deciding whether to establish a new project does not look only at tax rates, interest rates, or market size. The investor also considers regional stability, the security of supply chains, transportation costs, energy security, and the predictability of economic policies. In an increasingly uncertain global environment, these factors directly affect the cost of capital, the expected return on investment, and the willingness of businesses to make long-term commitments.
For this reason, protecting the Jordanian economy from external shocks cannot be limited to responding after a crisis has already occurred. The real challenge is to build resilience before the shock arrives.
Jordan cannot control the geopolitical developments taking place around it. It can, however, strengthen its capacity to absorb their economic consequences. This requires stronger public finances, greater productive capacity, diversified sources of growth, wider export markets, higher productivity, and continued monetary and financial stability.
The broader economic message from New York is therefore clear: in a world of increasingly frequent geopolitical shocks, economic resilience is becoming an essential component of national security. The strength of an economy is measured not only by how fast it grows in stable times, but also by how well it can withstand the shocks it cannot control.
The global economy can no longer be understood separately from geopolitics. Wars and conflicts are no longer confined to the countries in which they occur. Their economic consequences travel rapidly across borders, affecting energy and food prices, trade and investment flows, transportation and insurance costs, and even the decisions of central banks and fiscal authorities.
This message was clearly reflected in His Majesty King Abdullah’s address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The King emphasized that the crises affecting the region do not remain within its borders. Their consequences can be felt in the energy and food bills of households thousands of miles away. He also highlighted how war can transmit instability rapidly through trade, investment, and the daily lives of people far beyond the immediate conflict zone.
From an economic perspective, this points to the growing importance of geopolitical shock transmission. When a major trade route is disrupted or an important source of energy comes under threat, the economic cost is not borne only by the countries directly involved in the conflict. It is transmitted through higher transportation, insurance, and production costs across other economies. Rising energy and logistics costs eventually feed into consumer prices, creating inflationary pressures even in countries far removed from the conflict itself.
For Jordan, this issue is particularly significant. The Jordanian economy remains closely connected to developments in the region through trade, energy, tourism, remittances, and foreign investment. Regional stability is therefore not simply a political or security concern. It is also an important economic variable that influences investment decisions, external balances, growth, and employment.
At the same time, recent indicators demonstrate that the Jordanian economy has developed a meaningful capacity to absorb external shocks. Real GDP growth reached 2.93 percent in the first quarter of 2026, while inflation stood at 2.2 percent during the first eight months of the year. Foreign exchange reserves reached approximately $28.4 billion at the end of August, while the current account deficit stood at 2.2 percent of GDP in the first quarter.
These indicators matter because economic resilience is ultimately about the ability to absorb shocks without allowing temporary external disruptions to become persistent domestic imbalances. This is where the relationship between security, stability, and economic performance becomes particularly important.
An economy operating in a volatile regional environment needs adequate economic buffers. These include strong foreign exchange reserves, a sound banking system, sustainable public finances, diversified sources of energy, broader export markets, stronger domestic production, and higher productivity and competitiveness.
Economic resilience, however, should not be understood simply as the ability to maintain short-term monetary and financial stability. Genuine resilience means the ability to sustain economic growth, investment, and employment even when external conditions deteriorate. This requires moving from an economy that merely reacts to crises toward one that is structurally prepared for them.
For Jordan, this means diversifying the productive base, expanding exports, strengthening industry, improving productivity, attracting greater private investment, and reducing the economy’s exposure to fluctuations in tourism, energy prices, and remittance flows. The objective should not simply be to withstand the next shock, but to ensure that the economy emerges from it with greater capacity to grow.
Perhaps the most important economic message emerging from the King’s address is that stability is no longer merely a political prerequisite for economic activity. It has become an economic asset in its own right.
An investor deciding whether to establish a new project does not look only at tax rates, interest rates, or market size. The investor also considers regional stability, the security of supply chains, transportation costs, energy security, and the predictability of economic policies. In an increasingly uncertain global environment, these factors directly affect the cost of capital, the expected return on investment, and the willingness of businesses to make long-term commitments.
For this reason, protecting the Jordanian economy from external shocks cannot be limited to responding after a crisis has already occurred. The real challenge is to build resilience before the shock arrives.
Jordan cannot control the geopolitical developments taking place around it. It can, however, strengthen its capacity to absorb their economic consequences. This requires stronger public finances, greater productive capacity, diversified sources of growth, wider export markets, higher productivity, and continued monetary and financial stability.
The broader economic message from New York is therefore clear: in a world of increasingly frequent geopolitical shocks, economic resilience is becoming an essential component of national security. The strength of an economy is measured not only by how fast it grows in stable times, but also by how well it can withstand the shocks it cannot control.
The global economy can no longer be understood separately from geopolitics. Wars and conflicts are no longer confined to the countries in which they occur. Their economic consequences travel rapidly across borders, affecting energy and food prices, trade and investment flows, transportation and insurance costs, and even the decisions of central banks and fiscal authorities.
This message was clearly reflected in His Majesty King Abdullah’s address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The King emphasized that the crises affecting the region do not remain within its borders. Their consequences can be felt in the energy and food bills of households thousands of miles away. He also highlighted how war can transmit instability rapidly through trade, investment, and the daily lives of people far beyond the immediate conflict zone.
From an economic perspective, this points to the growing importance of geopolitical shock transmission. When a major trade route is disrupted or an important source of energy comes under threat, the economic cost is not borne only by the countries directly involved in the conflict. It is transmitted through higher transportation, insurance, and production costs across other economies. Rising energy and logistics costs eventually feed into consumer prices, creating inflationary pressures even in countries far removed from the conflict itself.
For Jordan, this issue is particularly significant. The Jordanian economy remains closely connected to developments in the region through trade, energy, tourism, remittances, and foreign investment. Regional stability is therefore not simply a political or security concern. It is also an important economic variable that influences investment decisions, external balances, growth, and employment.
At the same time, recent indicators demonstrate that the Jordanian economy has developed a meaningful capacity to absorb external shocks. Real GDP growth reached 2.93 percent in the first quarter of 2026, while inflation stood at 2.2 percent during the first eight months of the year. Foreign exchange reserves reached approximately $28.4 billion at the end of August, while the current account deficit stood at 2.2 percent of GDP in the first quarter.
These indicators matter because economic resilience is ultimately about the ability to absorb shocks without allowing temporary external disruptions to become persistent domestic imbalances. This is where the relationship between security, stability, and economic performance becomes particularly important.
An economy operating in a volatile regional environment needs adequate economic buffers. These include strong foreign exchange reserves, a sound banking system, sustainable public finances, diversified sources of energy, broader export markets, stronger domestic production, and higher productivity and competitiveness.
Economic resilience, however, should not be understood simply as the ability to maintain short-term monetary and financial stability. Genuine resilience means the ability to sustain economic growth, investment, and employment even when external conditions deteriorate. This requires moving from an economy that merely reacts to crises toward one that is structurally prepared for them.
For Jordan, this means diversifying the productive base, expanding exports, strengthening industry, improving productivity, attracting greater private investment, and reducing the economy’s exposure to fluctuations in tourism, energy prices, and remittance flows. The objective should not simply be to withstand the next shock, but to ensure that the economy emerges from it with greater capacity to grow.
Perhaps the most important economic message emerging from the King’s address is that stability is no longer merely a political prerequisite for economic activity. It has become an economic asset in its own right.
An investor deciding whether to establish a new project does not look only at tax rates, interest rates, or market size. The investor also considers regional stability, the security of supply chains, transportation costs, energy security, and the predictability of economic policies. In an increasingly uncertain global environment, these factors directly affect the cost of capital, the expected return on investment, and the willingness of businesses to make long-term commitments.
For this reason, protecting the Jordanian economy from external shocks cannot be limited to responding after a crisis has already occurred. The real challenge is to build resilience before the shock arrives.
Jordan cannot control the geopolitical developments taking place around it. It can, however, strengthen its capacity to absorb their economic consequences. This requires stronger public finances, greater productive capacity, diversified sources of growth, wider export markets, higher productivity, and continued monetary and financial stability.
The broader economic message from New York is therefore clear: in a world of increasingly frequent geopolitical shocks, economic resilience is becoming an essential component of national security. The strength of an economy is measured not only by how fast it grows in stable times, but also by how well it can withstand the shocks it cannot control.
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