World Bank projects Jordanian economy to grow by 2.1% in 2022 – The Peninsula

World Bank projects Jordanian economy to grow by 2.1% in 2022 – The Peninsula

AMMAN: Jordan's economy is projected to grow by 2.1% this year, with rising commodity prices, supply bottlenecks and impact of the war in the Ukraine posing major downside risks, the World Bank said on Monday.

The bank said in a new study that the kingdom's economic recovery was projected to remain steady this year but that unemployment remained at "alarming levels and reforms were needed to spur investments" to create jobs.

"Despite Jordan’s economic rebound, pressing socio-economic challenges, such as high unemployment, especially among the youth and women, remain entrenched,” Saroj Kumar Jha, World Bank Mashreq Regional Director, said in the report.

"Going forward, accelerating implementation of investment-enabling reforms will be critical to inject dynamism in the economy and activate the private sector as an engine of job creation,” the official added.

The World Bank growth estimates are slightly lower than the IMF's latest economic growth forecast of 2.4% for 2022 which was downgraded from an earlier 2.7%.

Higher growth is seen as key to easing the country's high unemployment, which stands at around 23%.

The IMF had recently said the oil importing country had partially mitigated the impact of higher fuel and commodities prices with long-term energy deals and a healthy stockpile of wheat purchased