The World Bank expected the Jordanian economy to recover gradually, recording a growth of 1.4% in the year 2021, during its launch of the Economic Monitor for Spring 2021, entitled “A Long Road fraught with uncertainty”, in a virtual event hosted by the Abdul Hameed Shoman Cultural Foundation.

The bank indicated that the Jordanian economy was severely affected by the Corona pandemic, amid low growth and high unemployment rates, which made this crisis particularly profound effects on the services sector and travel and tourism revenues, while the economy in the Kingdom contracted with it by 1.6 percent in 2020, according to the latest version of the Jordan Economic Observatory.

He added that this contraction is the first for the Jordanian economy in three decades; Although it is a historic contraction for Jordan, it is among the lowest globally in 2020.

The bank attributed this moderate effect to the large fiscal and monetary stimulus packages pumped by the government aimed at supporting the poorest and most needy families, with a total of about 10.5 percent of GDP, in addition to the sharp drop in the cost of oil imports, which greatly affected the compensation for the losses incurred by the economy. Jordan during this crisis.

The bank indicated that the continuing uncertainty about the course of the Corona pandemic, despite the provision of anti-viral vaccines and the uneven global recovery, is likely to slow the pace of the return of sectors that are intensive in direct contact with customers, such as the services sector and the tourism sector.

The Spring 2021 Economic Monitor contains two special topics: an overview of the private sector and a review of inequality in Jordan and the wider MENA region, with a geographical scope.

The first topic looks at the impact of the pandemic on Jordanian companies, whose closures and shocks have led to the scarcity of consumer demands in closing business establishments, especially in the service sector, although Jordanian companies have introduced new products and used digital technologies, but they say that the pace of transformation is slower than can be it.

As for the second topic, it focuses on the social and economic effects of the Corona pandemic, and despite its announcement as a “great equalizing factor”, the observatory’s report states that the health and economic effects of the pandemic have disproportionately affected the poor and needy groups across the region, resulting in It tends to amplify pre-existing inequalities between rich and poor among countries in the region, as well as within those same countries with potentially long-term consequences.

For his part, the Regional Director of the Mashreq Countries Department at the World Bank Group, Saroj Kumar Jha, said that the government was able to mitigate some of the effects of the crisis through ambitious support programs that came at a time for the affected economic sectors and workers most in need.

He stressed that the World Bank is committed to supporting Jordan and helping it stimulate the creation of sustainable job opportunities and the pursuit of a recovery that is harmless to the environment and is able to withstand climate changes.

“The current crisis provides an opportunity for Jordan to rebuild better, as the country needs to focus on reforms that can be felt by Jordanian citizens and the private sector by improving the investment climate in it to contribute to growth and create Jobs chances”.