Jordan Times
Thursday, April 8, 1999
AMMAN (J.T.) — ACCORDING TO a statistical booklet entitled Jordan: Economic Overview issued by the Ministry of Planning, government spending as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was 35.7 per cent in 1997, the lowest rate since 1993 when the rate was 37.8 per cent. Also, foreign debt as a percentage of GDP declined to 92.5 per cent which is the lowest rate since the beginning of the 90s.
The booklet described the above figures as good indicators of the Jordanian economy in addition to the inflation rate which in 1997 dropped to three per cent compared to 6.5 per cent in 1996. Financially, the gross foreign assets at the Central Bank of Jordan increased to $3,606 million, the highest amount since the early 90s. “In general, the gross national savings continued to rise steadily since the early 90s to reach 28.7 per cent of the GDP in 1997 compared to 11.9 per cent in 1990,” the booklet said.
Noting that the economic indicators as a whole were positive, the booklet indicated that the real growth in GDP in 1997 was 2.20 per cent compared to less than one per cent in 1996. The highest rate of real growth achieved since the early 90s was posted in 1992 when it stood at 16.1 per cent. The GDP per capita at current prices amounted to $1,532.4 in 1992.
The domestic investments were highlighted for contributing 28.4 per cent of the GDP in 1997 whereas public and private consumption accounted for 25 per cent and 69.5 per cent respectively “This gross consumption continued to represent the main driving force behind the growth in GDP at current prices in 1997 while the deficit in the trade balance contributed negatively in the GDP as it reached 22.9 per cent,” the booklet said.
The Ministry of Planning put the 1997 unemployment rate at 15.1 per cent of the total workforce noting that the highest jobless rate during the 90s was 19.2 per cent in 1993 and the lowest of 14 per cent was in 1996. At 18.5 per cent, the public administration was the highest employing sector followed by commercial activities, hotels and restaurants which employed 18.3 per cent of the workforce. Education and health ranked in third place as they took 16.2 per cent of the workers.
The remaining workforce were spread in the mining and industry (13.8 per cent), transport, storage and communications (8.5 per cent), agriculture (6.7 per cent), construction (6.7 per cent), financing and real estate (4.6 per cent), water, electricity and gas (two per cent) and the rest of 4.6 per cent in other sectors.