equal horizontal bands of black (top), white, and green with a
red isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bearing a small white
seven-pointed star; the seven points on the star represent the seven
fundamental laws of the Koran

@Jordan, Economy

Overview:
Jordan benefited from increased Arab aid during the oil boom of the
late 1970s and early 1980s, when its annual real GNP growth averaged
more than 10%. In the remainder of the 1980s, however, reductions in
both Arab aid and worker remittances slowed real economic growth to an
average of roughly 2% per year. Imports - mainly oil, capital goods,
consumer durables, and food - outstripped exports, with the difference
covered by aid, remittances, and borrowing. In mid-1989, the Jordanian
Government began debt-rescheduling negotiations and agreed to
implement an IMF-supported program designed to gradually reduce the
budget deficit and implement badly needed structural reforms. The
Persian Gulf crisis that began in August 1990, however, 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, but the recovery has been losing steam since mid-1993.
The government is implementing the reform program adopted in 1992 and
continues to secure rescheduling of its heavy foreign debt.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $11.5 billion (1993 est.)
National product real growth rate:
5% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$3,000 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5% (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
20% (1993 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$1.7 billion
expenditures:
$1.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $420 million (1993)
Exports:
$1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities:
phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures
partners:
India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, EC, Indonesia, UAE
Imports:
$3.2 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities:
crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals,
manufactured goods
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