Overview:
Jordan benefited from increased Arab aid during the oil boom of the
late 1970s and early 1980s, when its annual real GNP growth averaged
more than 10%. In the remainder of the 1980s, however, reductions in
both Arab aid and worker remittances slowed real economic growth to an
average of roughly 2% per year. Imports - mainly oil, capital goods,
consumer durables, and food - outstripped exports, with the difference
covered by aid, remittances, and borrowing. In mid-1989, the Jordanian
Government began debt-rescheduling negotiations and agreed to
implement an IMF-supported program designed to gradually reduce the
budget deficit and implement badly needed structural reforms. The
Persian Gulf crisis that began in August 1990, however, aggravated
Jordan's already serious economic problems, forcing the government to
shelve the IMF program, stop most debt payments, and suspend
rescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states, worker
remittances and trade contracted, and refugees flooded the country,
producing serious balance-of-payments problems, stunting GDP growth,
and straining government resources. The economy rebounded in 1992,
largely due to the influx of capital repatriated by workers returning
from the Gulf, but the recovery has been losing steam since mid-1993.
The government is implementing the reform program adopted in 1992 and
continues to secure rescheduling of its heavy foreign debt.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $11.5 billion (1993 est.)
National product real growth rate:
5% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$3,000 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5% (1993 est.)
Unemployment rate:
20% (1993 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$1.7 billion
expenditures:
$1.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $420 million (1993)
Exports:
$1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities:
phosphates, fertilizers, potash, agricultural products, manufactures
partners:
India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, EC, Indonesia, UAE
Imports:
$3.2 billion (c.i.f., 1993 est.)
commodities:
crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, food, live animals,
manufactured goods
partners:
EC, US, Iraq, Japan, Turkey
External debt:
$6.8 billion (December 1993 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 3% (1993 est.); accounts for 20% of GDP
Electricity:
capacity:
1,030,000 kW
production:
3.814 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
1,070 kWh (1992)
Industries:
phosphate mining, petroleum refining, cement, potash, light
manufacturing
Agriculture:
accounts for about 10% of GDP; principal products are wheat, barley,
citrus fruit, tomatoes, melons, olives; livestock - sheep, goats,
poultry; large net importer of food
Economic aid:
recipient:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.7 billion; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $1.5
billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $9.5 billion; Communist
countries (1970-89), $44 million
Currency:
1 Jordanian dinar (JD) = 1,000 fils
Exchange rates:
Jordanian dinars (JD) per US$1 - 0.7019 (February 1994), 0.6928
(1993), 0.6797 (1992), 0.6808 (1991), 0.6636 (1990), 0.5704 (1989)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
@Jordan, Communications
Railroads:
789 km 1.050-meter gauge, single track
Highways:
total:
7,500 km
paved:
asphalt 5,500 km
unpaved:
gravel, crushed stone 2,000 km
Pipelines:
crude oil 209 km
Ports:
Al 'Aqabah
Merchant marine:
3 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 71,566 GRT/129,351 DWT, bulk 1,
cargo 1, oil tanker 1
Airports:
total:
16
usable:
14
with permanent-surface runways:
13
with runways over 3,659 m:
1
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
12
with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
0
Telecommunications:
adequate telephone system of microwave, cable, and radio links; 81,500
telephones; broadcast stations - 5 AM, 7 FM, 8 TV; satellite earth
stations - 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, 1
ARABSAT, 1 domestic TV receive-only; coaxial cable and microwave to
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria; microwave link to Lebanon is inactive;
participant in MEDARABTEL, a microwave radio relay network linking
Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco
@Jordan, Defense Forces
Branches:
Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) includes Royal Jordanian Land Force,
Royal Jordanian Air Force, Royal Naval Force; Ministry of the
Interior's Public Security Force (falls under JAF only in wartime or
crisis situations)
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49 966,420; fit for military service 685,112; reach
military age (18) annually 42,776 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $435 million, 7.9% of GDP (1993)
@Juan de Nova Island
Header Affiliation: (possession of France)
@Juan de Nova Island, Geography
Location: Southern Africa, in the central Mozambique Channel about one-third of the way between Madagascar and Mozambique Map references: Africa Area: total area: 4.4 sq km land area: 4.4 sq km comparative area: about 7.5 times the size of The Mall in Washington, DC Land boundaries: 0 km Coastline: 24.1 km Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm International disputes: claimed by Madagascar Climate: tropical Terrain: NA Natural resources: guano deposits and other fertilizers Land use: arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 0% forest and woodland: 90% other: 10% Irrigated land: 0 sq km Environment: current issues: NA natural hazards: subject to periodic cyclones international agreements: NA Note: wildlife sanctuary
@Juan de Nova Island, People