The impact of the global economic crisis on Jordan has been unspectacular. There have been no high-profile bail-outs and no debt defaults, unemployment has remained relatively static, and economic growth has stayed positive throughout. But while the direct effects have not been as disastrous as elsewhere, the country's reliance on capital inflows from overseas to buoy a modest economy has meant that as its neighbours and trading partners have suffered, so too has Jordan.
Economic growth has fallen dramatically. In 2009, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 2.3%, compared with 8.9% in 2007 and 7.2% in 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest Article IV report, published in September. A modest increase to 3.4% is expected this year, but growth is not expected to return to pre-crisis levels in the medium term. The IMF forecasts GDP growth of no more than 5.5% in any of the next five years, compared to an average of 6% a year between 2000 and 2008.
