99288 Issue 21 – May 2015 MASHREQ NEWS Jordan on the Path to Economic Recovery Jordan’s economy is slowly, but steadily picking up, underlining the Kingdom’s resilience to exogenous shocks, ranging from global financial downturns to regional political turmoil. The World Bank’s Spring 2015 Jordan Economic Monitor noted that real GDP growth rate in the Kingdom reached around 3 per cent in 2014, up 30 basis points over 2013. It forecast real GDP growth to accelerate to 3.5 percent in 2015 and 3.9 per cent in 2016. Findings of the report were the focus of a dissemination conference at the Center for Strategic Studies at Jordan University in Amman on June 1. The event featured a lively debate among senior public officials and economic and financial experts. Minister of Planning and international cooperation Imad Fakhoury said it was important for Jordan to obtain objective and neutral diagnoses of the status of the national economy. Ferid Belhaj, World Bank director for the Middle East, said the Bank “realizes the challenges facing Jordan, thus we stress our full readiness to support this generous country to maintain its resilience and face these shocks that affect its socio- economic safety.” In Parliament, the Finance Committee and the World Bank team also discussed the findings of the report. Some MPs disagreed with unemployment figures. Based on official statistics, the report said unemployment had dropped in 2014 to 11.9 percent, down from 12.6 the year before. “What dropped was citizens’ willingness to sign up at the National Unemployment Office, which they perceive as a futile exercise,” one MP noted. HIGHLIGHTS A Partnership to Mitigate Fallout Building Beirut’s Resistance to Reversing Gender Disparity of Syrian Crisis Natural Disasters The World Bank Group is developing a global Lebanon and the World Bank Group are in The World Bank and the Municipality of gender strategy to help client countries the process of finalizing a six-year Country redress constraints to women’s economic Beirut have launched on May 15 the Urban Partnership Framework (CPF) that would and political participation. The Bank’s gender Resilience Master Plan for the City of Beirut. specialists have been touring world capitals focus on potential Bank interventions to The Master Plan is financed by the Global help the Government weather the adverse since mid-April, seeking inputs on existing Facility for Disaster Reduction and limitations specific to each society and economic and social impact of the Syrian crisis. In May, the Bank held a series of Recovery. It aims to strengthen the city's potential solutions that could reduce consultations with stakeholders from public technical understanding of multi-hazard risks disparities. The team visited Lebanon and and private sectors, Parliament and civil (seismic, floods and storms) in order to Jordan May 12-14, where discussions focused on country-specific and regional society organizations to develop a develop preparedness and response perspectives, and good practices that would partnership that takes into consideration capacity, and to better support the city level help plug key gender gaps. The team held the needs of a large segment of the society investment plans. Lebanon is located on rich multi-stakeholder discussions with an and help Lebanon mitigate the impact of volatile continental plates, which expose it to array of stakeholders, including the the Syria conflict on service delivery and the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis caused government, private sector and civil society social cohesion. by tremors along these plates. organizations. Emerging themes from both countries included the need to boost women’s economic and political participation, The Public Good that May Turn “Bad” and tackling restrictive social and cultural Lebanon and Jordan have displayed unprecedented generosity in norms that often disadvantage women. providing shelter for more than 2 million Syrians who fled war in their country. The flow of refugees is straining the finances, infrastructure LINKS and the social fabric in these two resource-poor countries. The MENA Blog: Voices & Views international community has yet to rise to the plate and provide Publications & Reports Quick Notes Lebanon and Jordan with the financial means needed to cope with Fast Briefs the crisis before this global public good becomes a global public MENA Data “bad.” Blog by Ferid Belhaj, World Bank Director for the Middle East FOLLOW US Visit MENA Facebook Early Childhood Development in MENA Visit Corporate Page English l Français l ‫بالعربية‬ . A new World Bank report, Expanding Opportunities for the Next Generation, reveals that generations of children in the Middle East Twitter and North Africa (MENA) region will be at a permanent disadvantage English | Français l ‫بالعربية‬ without concerted action to improve access to key development factors during early childhood. Watch Videos See Flickr Photos Other Bank Newsletters | Privacy Policy |For more information, visit our website: www.worldbank.org Or contact mashreqnews@worldbank.org+961-1-962900 ext. 2914