r 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 recovery was uneven. A preliminary
agreement with the IMF in early 1999 will provide new loans over the
next three years. Sluggish growth, along with debt, poverty, and
unemployment are fundamental ongoing economic problems.

GDP: purchasing power parity--$15.5 billion (1998 est.)

GDP--real growth rate: 2.2% (1998 est.)

GDP--per capita: purchasing power parity?$3,500 (1998 est.)

GDP--composition by sector:
agriculture: 6%
industry: 30%
services: 64% (1995 est.)

Population below poverty line: 30% (1998 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 34.7% (1991)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 1.15 million
note: in addition, there are 300,000 foreign workers (1997 est.)

Labor force--by occupation: industry 11.4%, commerce, restaurants,
and hotels 10.5%, construction 10%, transport and communications
8.7%, agriculture 7.4%, other services 52% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 15% official rate; note--actual rate is 25%-30%
(1998 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $2.8 billion
expenditures: $3 billion, including capital expenditures of $672
million (1999 est.)

Industries: phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash,
light manufacturing

Industrial production growth rate: -3.4% (1996)

Electricity--production: 5.52 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--production by source:
fossil fue