Economy Higher current spending widens Jordan’s fiscal gap By Nadim Kawach March 6, 2025, 5:43 PM Alamy via Reuters Visitors to Petra in Jordan. Tourism is vital for the country's economy Higher current expenditure widened Jordan’s budget deficit last year despite growth in revenues, the country’s finance ministry has reported. Total spending was JD11.6 billion ($16.4 billion) in 2024 compared with JD11 billion in 2023, an increase of 5 percent, the ministry said in its January bulletin published on its website at the weekend. Current expenditure, which mostly includes wages, swelled by 8 percent to JD741.1 million in 2024 over the previous year while capital spending fell by 15 percent to nearly JD208 million, the ministry said. Revenue edged up by 2 percent to JD9.5 billion from JD9 billion in the same period, the report said, adding that there was an increase in both tax and non-tax revenue. Water projects take priority in Jordan’s PPP pipeline EU’s $3bn to back Jordan’s economy amid challenges US senior official in Jordan to discuss bilateral issues Higher spending meant that the country’s 2024 budget deficit widened by 11 percent to JD2.1 billion from JD1.9 billion in 2023. Jordan’s revenues come mostly from foreign financial aid, taxes, tourism, light industrial and farming exports, and remittances from 700,000 expatriates in the oil-rich Gulf.
