Jordan

Jordan has demonstrated resilience in the face of regional instability, global economic shocks, and resource constraints. The country ranks among the most water-scarce in the world with vulnerability to climate change and dependence on external energy supplies. The country is also host to an estimated 475,000 registered refugees, equivalent to around 4% of its population, providing global public good but also adding pressure on the country’s resources and services.

Over the past two decades, Jordan’s population has grown rapidly, rising from just under five million to more than eleven million today, placing increasing pressure on job creation, housing, infrastructure, and public services. To address these challenges, the Government launched a ten-year Political, Public Sector, and Economic Modernization Agenda in 2021.The agenda sets out an ambitious path to strengthen democratic participation, enhance the role of women and youth and modernize public administration, while aiming to raise economic growth, expand employment opportunities for Jordanians and improve governance and accountability across institutions.

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Jordan has maintained an average growth rate of 2.5 percent over the past decade, but this remains insufficient to absorb a growing labor force. Unemployment stood at 21.3 percent in Q2-2025, marginally lower than a year earlier and 1.3 percentage points below its 2022 level.  Labor force participation was 33.5 percent overall and just 14.6 percent for women. Headline inflation remained contained at 1.9 percent during the first month of 2025, below the 2011-2024 average of 2.4 percent, supported partly by lower global commodity prices.

The economy faces structural constraints including limited natural resources, fiscal pressures, and external vulnerabilities. Building resilience requires reforms that unlock private investment, strengthen competitiveness, and address the interconnected challenges of water, energy, and food security. Jordan has been a regional leader on climate, adopting ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution targets, advancing a green growth strategy, and integrating sustainability into its public and private investment frameworks.

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The World Bank program in Jordan supports inclusive growth, job creation, climate resilience, and improved human capital outcomes. Current projects provide cash transfers to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable households, expand access to education and health services, and improve municipal service delivery in refugee-hosting communities. Programs also strengthen water sector efficiency, expand solar and renewable energy, and promote agricultural resilience.

Support for private sector development is central, including initiatives to finance startups, expand digital jobs, and modernize industry. The World Bank also backs reforms that enhance governance, strengthen social protection systems, and enable climate-responsive investments.

The Bank is committed to safeguarding Jordan’s progressive approach as a refugee host, providing refugees access to services and the Jordanian labor market. Jordan has been at the forefront of providing an inclusive and development-oriented response to the Syrian refugee crisis since its onset in 2012. In addition to working with humanitarian agencies to ensure basic needs are met, Jordan has provided Syrian refugees access to public education and health, subsidized utilities, and access to work permits and the Jordanian labor market. The Jordan Compact acknowledged the hosting of refugees as a global public good, with development partners assisting the GOJ to support refugees' access to essential services and economic opportunities.

As of September 2025, IBRD’s active portfolio in Jordan comprised 17 projects totaling US$5.6 billion in loans, concessional financing, and grants. The World Bank has also used concessional resources to support Jordan’s Syrian Crisis Response, through the  Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF)  which reduces borrowing costs for development projects that benefit refugees and host communities. To date, Jordan has received a total of US$490 million from the GCFF for projects in health, education, infrastructure and job creation.

The World Bank also administers the Jordan Inclusive Growth and Economic Opportunities Multi-donor Trust Fund (US$77.7 million) with contributions from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Canada, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It has funded 48 recipient-executed and Bank-executed grants to support private sector-led growth and employment creation.

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The World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework (2024–2029) focuses on three pillars:

• (i) creating more and better private sector jobs,
• (ii) improving human capital outcomes through education, health, and social protection reforms, and
• (iii) increasing resilience and sustainability in water, energy, and urban development. Cross-cutting themes include people-centric governance, digitalization, and support for Jordan as a refugee host.

Jordan Country Partnership Framework for the period 2024 - FY2029

As of early 2024, IBRD’s active portfolio in Jordan totaled $3.9 billion across 16 projects, supported by concessional resources from the International Development Association and the Global Concessional Financing Facility. The World Bank also administers the $72.8 million Jordan Inclusive Growth and Economic Opportunities Multi-donor Trust Fund. Complementary Advisory Services and Analytics provide evidence-based diagnostics, including the Jordan Economic Monitor and the 2022 Country Climate and Development Report. IFC and MIGA expand the partnership through investments, guarantees, and support for private sector growth.

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• Sustainable Development

Improved Municipal Service Delivery

The aim of the Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project (MSSRP) is to support Jordanian municipalities affected by the influx of Syrian refugees by delivering services and providing employment opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians. The project has improved municipal services for over 2.8 million direct beneficiaries, of which 20 percent are Syrian refugees and 47 percent are female. The project has also created over 45,000 working days of temporary employment and the number is expected to surpass 110,000 person days at project closing. The MSSRP builds on the Emergency Services and Social Resilience Project which was launched in 2014 with the aim to provide emergency support to municipalities that were affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. Together with MSSRP, support has been provided to 28 Jordanian municipalities with a cumulative envelope exceeding US$102 million through multi-donor support.

• Human Development

Social Protection

Jordan Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT) COVID-19 Response Project seeks to provide emergency cash support to poor and vulnerable households affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Reforms in targeting and virtual home visits and digital payment using e-wallets and Basic Bank Accounts allowed the ECT Project to reach, within a year (July 2022 – June 2023), 237,000 households that received temporary cash transfers against a target of 190,000 (reaching 1.2 million individuals against a target of 950,000, of which 50 percent were women). Similarly, the number of households that received cash transfers under the Takaful Program, rebranded under the Unified Cash Transfer program in 2022, reached 120,000 against a target of 85,000 (reaching 600,000 individuals against a target of 425,000, of which 50 percent were women). To date, more than 378,000 households have received cash transfers under the program (a total of 1.8 million individuals).

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