This study examines Jordan's development policy and analyzes the role of Jordan's external public borrowing in economic development during the period 1967-1983. Mainly, Jordan's rapidly increasing external indebtedness is related to its development strategy which is based on the concept of unbalanced growth . This strategy has emphasized' the concentration of development resources (including external loans) in certain areas (e . g . Amman and Zarka) and certain economic sectors (e.g. industry and service) which are assumed to be growth propelling. The agricultural sector has been seriously ignored in Jordan's development process.
Jordan's growth has been quite impressive, but the problems of poverty and inequality have remained intact. On an ave rage, the real growth rate of t he GNP was 7 percent per year during the period of study. However, the Jordanian economy suffers not only from inequality i n income distribution but also in opportunity (i.e . lack of access to goods and services).
In order to show the impact external borrowing has on Jordan's economic growth and on a set of macroeconomic variables , an econometric model based on the production function approach was developed and a set of regression equations was specified. The findings of the model and a series of regress ion analyses showed that external borrowing was negatively associated with GOP growth rate and domestic savings. Howe ver , it was positively associated with in vestment, imports and exports. The association with consumption was positive, but statistically insignificant. Overall, external debt retarded economic growth and didn't help to reduce Jordan 's deficits during the 1967-1983 period.
Increasing debt deteriorate the balance thereby affecting the service obligations recently may of payments in the near future, level of Jordan's international reserves and possibly threatening its development process. Hence, it is argued that Jordan should adopt vital policy measures to curb its external debt burden.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-5133 |
| Date | 01 May 1985 |
| Creators | Almomani, Riad |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu). |
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