Jordan’s King Abdullah swore in a reformist government on Wednesday, officials said. The government is tasked with accelerating IMF-backed reforms and implementing political and economic modernization, which is crucial to reversing a decade of sluggish growth.
The Harvard-educated prime minister, Jafar Hassan, headed the monarch’s office in his last job. According to officials and politicians, Hasan has proven to be an able administrator during a long public career in which he oversaw economic reforms as deputy premier and during a stint as planning minister.
Politicians say accelerating IMF-guided reforms and reining in more than $50 billion in public debt is crucial in a country with high unemployment and whose stability is supported by billions of dollars of foreign aid from Western donors.
The traditional conservative establishment had long been blamed for obstructing a modernization drive advocated by the Western-leaning monarch, fearing liberal reforms would erode their grip on power.
Veteran foreign minister Ayman Safadi, whose strong anti-Israel tone has angered the country’s Western neighbor, kept his post in the new 32-member cabinet that includes moderates, tribal politicians, and technocrats.
Jafar had canvassed the views of the powerful Islamist opposition, which made significant gains in parliamentary elections earlier this month.
Free-market reform
The Islamists won 31 seats, the most they have held since parliamentary life was revived in 1989 after decades of martial law. This makes them the largest political grouping in parliament.
Although the new composition of the 138-member parliament retains a pro-government majority, the more vocal Islamist-led opposition could challenge IMF-backed free-market reforms and foreign policy, diplomats and officials say.
The Islamists, who led some of the largest rallies in support of their ideological allies, the militant Palestinian movement Hamas, campaigned on a platform of strengthening democracy and lifting curbs on public freedoms.
The detention of dissidents and activists for criticizing government policies during the Gaza conflict has heightened worries about a tightening authoritarian grip, rights groups and independent politicians say.
The new finance minister, Abdul Hakim al-Shibli, a seasoned economist, replaces veteran Mohammad al-Ississ, who won praise from the IMF for stepping up reforms and maintaining fiscal prudence while avoiding austerity policies that triggered social unrest in past years.
The previous government had sought to push reforms by King Abdullah to help reverse a decade of sluggish growth, hovering at around 2%. The COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts in neighboring Iraq and Syria worsened that.
Officials say that Jordan, among the closest US allies in the Middle East, hopes to get more donor aid to help ease the impact of regional turmoil and the Gaza war on its economy.
