Jordan Times
Sunday, September 5, 1999
Total volume of external and internal debt drops at the end of July
AMMAN (Petra) — The total volume of external and internal debt dropped at the end of July to JD5984.8, 109.8 per cent of GDP, from JD6016.7 million, 114.9 per cent of the GDP at the end of 1998, an official study said on Saturday.
The finance ministry's monthly report said the internal debt went down at the end of July to JD960.2 million from JD1006.9 million at the end of last year, registering a 4.6 per cent drop.
According to the report, the GDP decreased to 17.6 per cent at the end of July from 19.2 per cent at the end of last year as the government continued paying back ordinary overdrafts to the Central Bank and issuing debt instruments in order to deepen the national capital market and enable currency policies effectively achieve their goals.
The study reported that the external debt went up at the end of July to JD5024.6 million, 92.2 per cent of the GDP, from JD5009.8 million, 95.7 per cent of the GDP, at the end of 1998, registering a slight increase by 0.3 per cent.