Jordan’s $294m IMF Package Awaits Board Approval

Jordan’s path to about $294 million in IMF financing runs through two more program reviews—and approval by the fund’s management and executive board. The money isn’t approved yet. A staff-level agreement has opened the gate, not delivered the funds.

The agreement covers the sixth review of Jordan’s economic reform program under the Extended Fund Facility and the third review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The reviews could make $133 million and $161 million available, respectively, according to an IMF statement. The arrangement puts an international financial institution at the center of decisions about a government’s economic program; the base account doesn’t specify how the proposed financing would be spent.

The terms on the table

Jordan committed to reducing public debt to around 80% of gross domestic product by 2028 while pursuing gradual fiscal consolidation and protecting priority social and development spending, the official news agency Petra reported. Those aims sit together in the stated plan, though the account offers no breakdown of the spending priorities or explanation of how the debt target and protection pledge will be balanced.

The IMF projected growth of 2.7% in 2026 and 3.1% in 2027, based on its June review of the country’s economic program. Real gross domestic product grew 3% year on year in the first half of 2026, while inflation remained contained despite fluctuations in global commodity prices. Numbers like these describe the economy at a national scale; the agreement as reported gives no household-level account of who bears the costs or receives the gains.

Cesar Serra, Deputy Chief of the Regional Analytics and Strategy Division in the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the IMF, said Jordan’s economy had shown “resilience,” supported by the authorities’ commitment to prudent macroeconomic policies, measures to mitigate regional conflict spillovers, and support from international partners. The word belongs to the fund’s assessment. The program reviews, performance criteria and benchmarks are the machinery behind it.

War, benchmarks and the official account

Serra said the war had weighed on Jordan through lower tourism inflows, higher trade and transportation costs, weaker foreign direct investment, and volatile energy prices. He added that those headwinds had “thus far been largely offset.” The IMF said the near-term outlook would depend heavily on the war’s duration and intensity and the scale of regional spillovers. The effects are listed; the account doesn’t identify the people or businesses absorbing them.

The IMF said Jordan met all quantitative performance criteria and most structural benchmarks for the sixth review. All three reform measures due under the third Resilience and Sustainability Facility review were on track for completion. These are the program’s own measures of compliance. The article doesn’t detail the reforms or describe public participation in setting them.

The current-account deficit narrowed, supported by stronger exports, lower non-energy imports, and steady remittance and regional tourism inflows, which offset higher energy-import costs. The Central Bank of Jordan continued building foreign-currency reserves and kept coverage above program targets. The IMF said prudent monetary and financial policies helped sustain confidence in the dinar’s peg to the U.S. dollar, reflected in declining dollarization. It also described the banking sector as sound, with strong capital buffers and ample liquidity.

No Palestinian Authority, Hamas, NGO or grassroots organizing appears in this account; neither does information about aid recipients or local scrutiny of the reforms. What it does document is a staff-level deal still awaiting approval, a debt target, and a program judged through benchmarks. The board’s decision remains the next step before the financing can become available.