Jordan Times
Friday, October 1, 2004
External debt drops 3.7% to
JD5.2b
AMMAN (Petra) — External debt totalled JD5.2 billion at the end of August, a 3.7
per cent drop from the level recorded at the end of last year, according to the
monthly bulletin issued by the Ministry of Finance.
Despite the drop, the debt continues to constitute two thirds of the country's
gross domestic product (GDP).
According to the Ministry of Finance monthly bulletin, the external debt service
on commitment basis was JD425.2 million at the end of August, of which JD321
million were in principal payments and JD104.2 million in loans' interests.
The domestic debt stood at JD1.6 billion, representing 21.3 per cent of the
estimated GDP for 2004.
The Kingdom's total public debt (external and domestic) stood at JD6.8 billion
at the end of August 2004, a 4.4 per cent decline from the JD7.1 billion at the
end of last year.
At the end of last August, the country's public debt represented 88.5 per cent
of the GDP, whereas the rate was over 100 per cent at the end of last year.
The ministry's bulletin also showed that the total foreign grants offered to the
Kingdom during the first eight months of the year totalled JD324.5 million, a
36.6 per cent fall from the JD511.7 million received during the same period last
year.
In 2003, Jordan obtained around $500 million in the largest grant from the US
following the US-led war on Iraq.
The government's tax and non-tax revenues during the first eight months of the
year reached JD1.39 billion, rising by JD325.1 million from the JD1.06 billion
recorded during the same period of last year.
The rise in revenues resulted from higher sales tax earnings after the
government hiked the rate to 16 per cent from 13 per cent, in addition to income
tax revenues, according to the ministry's bulletin.
The government's total expenditures also rose by around JD80.5 million, reaching
JD1.68 billion at the end of August compared to JD1.60 billion at the end of
August 2003.
The increase was the outcome of a JD92.4 million or 35.1 per cent rise in
capital expenditure which reached JD355.4 million during the first eight months
of the year compared to JD263 million during the corresponding period of 2003.
Current spending declined by a nine per cent or JD11.9 million.