12/02/2023

12/2/2023

Jordan achieved 61 new reforms, in the " Strengthening Reform Management in Jordan", which was launched in cooperation with the World Bank, to coordinate and follow up on a reform matrix that the government announced its commitment during the London Initiative “Jordan: Growth and Opportunities”, in 2019.

According to these data, Jordan completed 22 additional reform measures in the past six months, which raised the total number of implemented reform measures to 61, including 13 reform measures in favor of women.

The proposed project will support the coordination and implementation of the updated Reform Matrix 2018-2024 which was approved by the Cabinet in October 2022, and restructured the project by extending its timetable by 18 months, so that the closing date becomes June 30, 2024, instead of December 31, 2022.

The bank transferred to Jordan $3.83 million in payments for the project, at a rate of 59% of its total cost of $6.5 million, as it was approved on November 27, 2019, while the remaining $2.67 million is from the project, which was financed, within a multi-donor trust fund (supported by the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Canada Governments).

The updated reform matrix extends for two years, to expand the covered sectors from 9 to 12 pillars, as new pillars were added, most notably public sector efficiency, governance, and tourism, and the original water and agriculture pillar was divided into two separate pillars, bringing the total reform pillars that the project will cover to 44 reform areas.

The World Bank team completed the minor restructuring in December 2022, while processing a government request for additional financing of $9.3 million through a new project titled “Additional Financing: Strengthening Reform Management in Jordan,” which the team plans to evaluate in February.

The value of the new funding requested by the government includes $1.5 million for partnership projects between the public and private sectors, and $2 million to support public procurement reforms, in addition to its request for recommendations to simplify project design by reducing the number of components from 3 to 2; A component to finance the Reform Secretariat and another component to finance the Reform Support Fund (RSF).

The RSF facilitates the Reform Secretariat extend reform activities to MDAs implementing specific reforms under the 12 pillars of the updated Reform Matrix.

In addition, the Secretariat actively supports the implementation of key World Bank operations such as the Inclusive, Transparent and Climate Responsive Investment Project that became effective last August.

The project consists of 3 main axes; The first is to support management reform (at a cost of $3.80 million), the second to strengthen the Public Investment Management Framework - Public-Private Partnership: (at a cost of $2.20 million), and the third to strengthen the framework and function of public procurement: (at a cost of $0.50 million).

The Jordanian government's continued efforts were evident in the implementation of the current reform management project, including the coordination of the Reform Secretariat, the Public Investment Department, partnership projects between the public and private sectors, and the Public Procurement Department for the next two years until the end of 2024.

The axes of the reform matrix are: Public finance, enhancing the efficiency of the public sector, improving the business environment, promoting investment and exports, facilitating access to finance, raising the efficiency of the labor market, and enhancing social protection, and includes 5 vital sectors: transportation, energy, water, agriculture, and tourism.

With the aim of following up, coordinating and facilitating the process of implementing the reform matrix, a Unit to Support the Implementation of Economic Reforms was established in the Ministry of Planning in late 2019, which also provides the necessary technical assistance to ministries and government departments concerned with implementing reforms, and communicates and consults with the relevant authorities periodically to arrange reform priorities, and prepare Periodic reports on work progress.

The government, at the London conference in February 2019, announced its commitment to its plan for economic reform and growth within a 5-year reform matrix (2018-2022), which was later extended to 2024, based on a set of political and structural reforms related to the most important economic policy issues facing Jordan.