Lecture looks at state of Jordan’s economy during and after pandemic

AMMAN — The COVID-19 pandemic brought unwelcome news to most economies, including Jordan’s, however, unlike many others, the Kingdom’s situation was already difficult, according to a Jordanian economist.

“Economic growth was already weakening and became even lower as Jordan’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth average in 2011-19 was just over 2 per cent, which was around the same level as the yearly population increase,” noted Riad Al Khouri, a professor and former dean of the business school at the Lebanese American University, Erbil.

Khouri’s remarks came during a  presentation titled “Jordan’s economy in the pandemic, and a look ahead” organised on Monday by Rotary Club of Amman, Ammon at Orthodox Club.

The low economic growth means per capita growth is stagnant, especially significant when set against rising consumerism of Jordanians affected by globalisation, Khouri continued.

However, he added that a modest recovery in growth may have started. 

“The sectors that have recovered the most in this phase of the pandemic are construction [up 5.7 per cent during the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2020], mining [5.4 per cent], transport and storage [4.3 per cent], and manufacturing [3.9 per cent],” Khouri said. 

He also noted that Jordanian unemployment nevertheless continues to rise.

The latest Department of Statistics (DoS) figures show that the unemployment rate for Jordanians reached 24.8 per cent in April-June 2021, compared with 23 per cent during the second quarter of 2020, 19.2 per cent for the same period of 2019, 18.7 per cent  in that time of 2018, and 18 per cent  in 2017, Khouri said.

He said that the DoS figures indicate that 48.5 per cent of the present unemployed are aged between 15 and 24 years.

Furthermore, nobody is certain how long the pandemic will last, Khouri said, adding that vaccinations have proved necessary but have been an insufficient response so far.

He noted that businesses and individuals face the challenges of integrating this pandemic-related uncertainty into their planning, and of factoring government decisions and restrictions into risk assessment.