Jordan's economy has remained resilient amid regional security risks and being cut off from United States Agency for International Development assistance, resulting in a stable outlook for the aid-reliant economy, ratings agency S&P Global has said.
The kingdom's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating was maintained at BB-, the New York-based firm said on Friday.
A BB- rating is “non-investment grade speculative”, three levels below investment grade, according to S&P's scale. Non-investment grade makes it more difficult for a country to access capital markets and raise funding when it wants to borrow.
“Despite the risks associated with Jordan's dependence on overseas assistance, and with the complicated security situation in the region, we note that Jordan has demonstrated resilient economic growth and maintained its fiscal and economic reform efforts,” S&P said
Although Jordan is not directly involved, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is affecting its tourism sector, which is its main foreign currency earner, as well other sectors of the economy.
S&P forecasts Jordan's economic growth at 2.7 per cent in 2025, provided regional security situation stabilises, tourism recovers and trade with Syria and Iraq starts to rise gradually. Tourism alone contributes around 15 per cent to the kingdom's GDP, about three-quarters of which comes from Arab visitors, the ratings firm said.
The economy is forecast to pick up in the following years – towards 3 per cent by 2026 and 2027 – as the economy “readjusts from the shocks it has suffered in recent years due to regional geopolitical developments”.
In February, US President Donald Trump ordered the shutdown of USAID, which sent “ripple effects” across Jordan's economy. The impact is “devastating” for the most vulnerable groups – from refugees to people with disabilities – in the agency's third-biggest aid recipient, the head of one of Jordan's larger non-government organisations told The National at the time.
The order is expected to have far-reaching economic and geopolitical consequences for the kingdom as thousands of workers at USAID, as well as contractors and partner agencies are laid off or put on leave, with life-saving programmes left hanging in the balance.
Despite that, S&P anticipates that Jordan “will be able to manage the immediate impact of the US administration's decision to pause foreign assistance disbursed through USAID”. It noted that about $300 million of annual disbursements are at risk, most of which are project-related.
The US has provided Jordan with total annual support of between $1.45 billion and $1.65 billion, or roughly 3 per cent of GDP, including broader military and budget-related support, S&P said.
“Under our baseline scenario, we assume that much of this will remain in place, as will the support Jordan receives from other international donors and multilateral partners,” it said.
Jordan has faced challenges for years, with Amman trying to overhaul its economy and cut state subsidies as public debt and unemployment rises.
Inflation has slightly picked up, rising to 2.3 per cent in January 2025 from 0.8 per cent in October, and is expected to remain moderate until 2028, S&P said. The International Monetary Fund in December had projected inflation to remain low, at about 2 per cent, in 2024.
While the Jordanian dinar's peg to the US dollar has supported price stability and contained inflation, it also limits the Central Bank of Jordan's ability to manoeuvre its policy because it effectively follows the decisions of the US Federal Reserve, “which may not always be appropriate for Jordan's economic conditions”, the ratings agency said.
The kingdom's unemployment rate is very high at 21.4 per cent as of 2024, amid government reforms to spur economic activity in the medium term, prioritising job creation in the private sector through improvements to the business and investment environment, S&P said.
Jordan still retains access to alternative financing sources, including a $1.2 billion IMF programme and a five-year partnership with the World Bank, which offers indicative funding of $5.67 billion. The EU had also announced a €3 billion ($3.25 billion) aid package for 2025-2027.
With the kingdom having liquid assets equal to 10 per cent of GDP at the end of 2024, “this gives it scope to manoeuvre in funding its budgetary deficits and repaying maturing commercial debt”, S&P said.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The years Ramadan fell in May
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Abu Dhabi race card
5pm Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige | Dh110,000 | 1,400m
5.30pm Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige | Dh110,000 | 1,400m
6pm Abu Dhabi Championship Listed | Dh180,000 | 1,600m
6.30pm Maiden | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
7pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap | Dh80,000 | 1,400m
7.30pm Handicap (TB) |Dh100,000 | 2,400m
High profile Al Shabab attacks
- 2010: A restaurant attack in Kampala Uganda kills 74 people watching a Fifa World Cup final football match.
- 2013: The Westgate shopping mall attack, 62 civilians, five Kenyan soldiers and four gunmen are killed.
- 2014: A series of bombings and shootings across Kenya sees scores of civilians killed.
- 2015: Four gunmen attack Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya and take over 700 students hostage, killing those who identified as Christian; 148 die and 79 more are injured.
- 2016: An attack on a Kenyan military base in El Adde Somalia kills 180 soldiers.
- 2017: A suicide truck bombing outside the Safari Hotel in Mogadishu kills 587 people and destroys several city blocks, making it the deadliest attack by the group and the worst in Somalia’s history.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
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Company profile
Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space
Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)
Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)
Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)
Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space
Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019
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Get inspired
Here are a couple of Valentine’s Day food products that may or may not go the distance (but have got the internet talking anyway).
Sourdough sentiments: Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom has introduced a slow-baked sourdough loaf dusted with flour to spell out I (heart) you, at £2 (Dh9.5). While it’s not available in the UAE, there’s nothing to stop you taking the idea and creating your own message of love, stencilled on breakfast-inbed toast.
Crisps playing cupid: Crisp company Tyrells has added a spicy addition to its range for Valentine’s Day. The brand describes the new honey and chilli flavour on Twitter as: “A tenderly bracing duo of the tantalising tingle of chilli with sweet and sticky honey. A helping hand to get your heart racing.” Again, not on sale here, but if you’re tempted you could certainly fashion your own flavour mix (spicy Cheetos and caramel popcorn, anyone?).
Zayed Sustainability Prize
MATCH INFO
Norwich 0
Watford 2 (Deulofeu 2', Gray 52')
Red card: Christian Kabasele (WatforD)
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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FIGHT CARD
Sara El Bakkali v Anisha Kadka (Lightweight, female)
Mohammed Adil Al Debi v Moaz Abdelgawad (Bantamweight)
Amir Boureslan v Mahmoud Zanouny (Welterweight)
Abrorbek Madaminbekov v Mohammed Al Katheeri (Featherweight)
Ibrahem Bilal v Emad Arafa (Super featherweight)
Ahmed Abdolaziz v Imad Essassi (Middleweight)
Milena Martinou v Ilham Bourakkadi (Bantamweight, female)
Noureddine El Agouti v Mohamed Mardi (Welterweight)
Nabil Ouach v Ymad Atrous (Middleweight)
Nouredin Samir v Zainalabid Dadachev (Lightweight)
Marlon Ribeiro v Mehdi Oubahammou (Welterweight)
Brad Stanton v Mohamed El Boukhari (Super welterweight
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
