The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday disbursed $39 million in credit facilities to Jordan, commending the kingdom's economic performance, but recommending a sustained reduction in the 2001 fiscal deficit, reported Jordan Times Friday.
The fund urged the government to tighten the belt on expenditure and increase tax revenues by broadening the tax base and regularly making adjustments to oil prices.
"Real growth has picked up, the public debt ratio has declined significantly, international reserves have risen to a comfortable level, and interest rates have fallen," Stanley Fischer, the IMF executive board first deputy managing director and acting chairman was quoted as saying.
Jordan has hiked fuel oil to 15 percent for gasoline, four percent for diesel and later 21 percent for kerosene.
The last triggered even more criticism of the government. Critics said that the poor in the country are the ones to suffer more since they depend on the oil product for heating in the winter.
The price of filled gas cylinders has also been raised.
"These successes reflect the authorities' pursuit of prudent macroeconomic policies and implementation of wide-ranging structural reforms, including the introduction of a VAT and the pursuit of their privatization program," added Fischer in a statement.
However, he said "the shortfall in non-tax revenue items in 2000 resulted in a widening of the fiscal deficit," he said – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
