Jordan Economic Monitor, Fall 2020 : Navigating through Continued Turbulence
The global economy continues to reel from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shock. The initial economic impact of COVID-19 on global output is projected to be far more devastating than the disruptions observed during the peak downturn of the global financ...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/411101615477814784/Jordan-Economic-Monitor-Fall-2020-Navigating-through-Continued-Turbulence http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35277 |
| Summary: | The global economy continues to reel
from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shock. The initial economic
impact of COVID-19 on global output is projected to be far
more devastating than the disruptions observed during the
peak downturn of the global financial crisis of 2007–09.
Across theworld, lockdowns and mobility restrictions meant
to control the spread of virus caused a significant slump in
consumer spending and production during the first half of
2020. This in turn created substantial challenges for labor
markets worldwide and has led to widespread layoffs. In
addition to the economic cost, however, the pandemic has
also inflicted an irreversible cost to economies in the form
of human loss. So far, estimates indicate that over one
million humans have lost their lives worldwide, while
millions more still battle the pandemic. Beside its impact
on human life, the COVID-19 pandemic has wide ranging
socio-economic impacts, endangering lives, livelihoods,
employment, and earnings as well as impeding service
delivery. According to World Bank estimates, the pandemic
could also lead to permanent loss in learning resulting in
trillions of dollars in lost earnings. Despite the
challenging conditions, recent global economic information
indicates some recovery, albeit uneven and possibly
temporary,across countries after gradual easing of
lockdowns. This recovery, which is largely supported by
unprecedented interventions by the central banks and
governments, however, remains uneven and still far from the
pre-pandemic levels. In particular, most of the major
economies are again observing a surge in new infections and
some of them have already re-instituted targeted lockdowns.
This leaves the global economic outlook more uncertain over
the coming period. The Jordanian economy is also hit hard by
the pandemic amidst already high unemploymentand debt
levels. Prior to the COVID-19 shock, for the past four years
the economy was growing at a low trajectory of around 2.0
percent. This rate of growth was insufficient to absorb the
country’s young and growing labor force. These challenges
have now been exacerbated by COVID-19 related economic
disruptions. Jordan’s unemployment rate spiked to 23.0
percent in Q2-2020, 3.7 percent higher than Q1-2020, with
youth, particularly female youth, disproportionally affected
by the crisis. Moreover, according to a World Bank study on
the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
businesses, Jordan is among the countries with the largest
expected drop in sales, at 60 percent, while 54 percent of
businesses report they have fallen or expect to fall in arrears. |
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