Alanani expects the Jordanian economy to recover this year

Alanbat-Sabaa’ Alsukkar

Translated by:Abdullah Dabash

While the International Monetary Fund predicted that the current year would be more difficult than the previous year for the majority of the global economy, the Fund also predicted that the slowdown in growth in the three major economies -- the United States, the European Union, and China -- would signal the return of the global Corona pandemic.

The fund expected that the Chinese economy would suffer strong short-term repercussions and that it might recover from them later this year with the increase in demand.

Accordingly, at the beginning of this week, the Chinese authorities reopened their borders and abandoned strict restrictions after a three-year closure in an attempt to ease the restrictions imposed to curb the Corona pandemic. Former Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Jawad al-Anani commented on the matter, explaining that as a result, the recovery of oil markets and stocks of the global stock exchange returned with the opening of the Chinese borders significantly and the abandonment of the "zero COVID" policy, which increased expectations regarding the growth of fuel demand and compensated for the fears of the global economic recession, explaining that things may happen contrary to the expectations of the monitoring bodies such as the International Monetary Fund.

And he went on to say that the slowdown in the pace of economic growth in some major countries does not necessarily apply to all countries around the world, implying that Finance Minister Muhammad Al-Asas made it clear in his speech on the general budget for the year 2023 yesterday that the economic conditions will not be brighter than last year, while it will maintain the improvement of its performance and stability in the domestic economy growth rate of about 2.7% for the years ahead. In the sixth performance review of the economic reform program with the International Monetary Fund, the government has proven its dedication to putting the changes into action.

He added that, despite the high global inflation rates, the Kingdom is among countries with acceptable rates and less than most countries in the world, reaching 4.2% in 2022, in addition to preserving the strength of the Jordanian dinar and the stability of its exchange rate, while the balance of foreign reserves remains at appropriate levels, reaching $17 billion. It is a sufficient amount, he points out, pointing out that all of the previously mentioned are the basics upon which the Jordanian economy is based, and he expects its recovery in the current year despite the challenges.