Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate
supplies of water and other natural resources such as oil. The Persian
Gulf crisis, which began in August 1990, aggravated Jordan's already
serious economic problems, forcing the government to shelve the IMF
program, stop most debt payments, and suspend rescheduling
negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states, worker remittances, and trade
contracted; and refugees flooded the country, producing serious
balance-of-payments problems, stunting GDP growth, and straining
government resources. The economy rebounded in 1992, largely due to
the influx of capital repatriated by workers returning from the Gulf.
After averaging 9% in 1992-95, GDP growth averaged only 2% during
1996-99. In an attempt to spur growth, King ABDALLAH has undertaken
limited economic reform, including partial privatization of some state
owned enterprises and Jordan's entry in January 2000 into the World
Trade Organization (WTrO). Debt, poverty, and unemployment are
fundamental ongoing economic problems.

purchasing power parity - $16 billion (1999 est.)

2% (1999 est.)

purchasing power parity - $3,500 (1999 est.)

agriculture: 3%
industry: 25%
services: 72% (1998 est.)

30% (1998 est.)

lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 34.7% (1991)

3% (1999 est.)

1.15 million
note: in addition, at least 300,000 workers are employed abroad (1997
est.)

industry 11.4%, commerce, restaurants,
and hotels 10.5%, construction 10%, transport and communications 8.7%,
agriculture 7.4%, other services 52% (1992)

15% official rate; actual rate is 25%-30% (1999
est.)

revenues: $2.8 billion
expenditures: $3.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(2000 est.)

phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash,
light manufacturing, tourism

-3.4% (1996)

6.08 billion kWh (1998)

fossil fuel: 99.51%
hydro: 0.49%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

6.102 billion kWh (1998)

2 million kWh (1998)

450 million kWh (1998)

wheat, barley, citrus, tomatoes, melons,
olives; sheep, goats, poultry

$1.8 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural
products, manufactures

Iraq, India, Saudi Arabia, EU, Indonesia, UAE,
Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Ethiopia

$3.3 billion (c.i.f., 1999 est.)

crude oil, machinery, transport equipment,
food, live animals, manufactured goods

Germany, Iraq, US, Japan, UK, Italy, Turkey,
Malaysia, Syria, China

$8.4 billion (1998 est.)

ODA, $850 million (1996 est.)

1 Jordanian dinar (JD) = 1,000 fils

Jordanian dinars (JD) per US$1 - 0.7090 (January
2000-1996), 0.7005 (1995)
note: since May 1989, the dinar has been pegged to a group of
currencies

calendar year