Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is located in the eastern Mediterranean region, but has only a narrow 26-kilometer-long sea access to the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aqaba. It borders Israel and the Palestinian Territories to the west, Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, and Saudi Arabia to the south. The country is about four times smaller than Germany. With a population of nearly 11 million, Jordan hosts about 675,000 Syrian refugees, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), making it the second-highest per capita refugee population in the world after Lebanon. Additionally, Jordan has a history of hosting refugees from the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, and Libya. The capital, Amman, is located in the northwestern part of the country.

In 1999, His Majesty King Abdullah II succeeded his late father, King Hussein, on the throne. Through political reforms and economic liberalization measures, most recently the new Political Parties Law and the Jordan 2025 National Vision and Strategy, King Abdullah II initiated a transformation of the national economy and opened it to the world market.

Jordan’s foreign policy is shaped by its Arab neighborhood and its historically Western orientation. It is a member of the UN, the Arab League, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA). An association agreement with the EU has been in effect since 2002. Along with Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, Jordan is also a party to the Agadir Agreement, a free trade area that aims to synchronize rules on product standards and tariffs, eliminating trade tariffs between signatories.

In 2020, Jordan had the second-largest International Finance Corporation (IFC) investment portfolio in the Mediterranean and Middle East region, focusing on strengthening private sector engagement and job creation through direct investment, public-private partnerships, and major business climate reforms.

Jordan’s economy is driven by a robust services sector, which consistently accounts for 60.36% of its GDP, with contributions from tourism, banking, financial services, and IT. Tourism has diversified in recent years to include cultural tourism, health tourism, ecotourism, and adventure vacations. Reforms and academic cooperation programs have laid the foundation for a knowledge-based economy; for instance, political activity is now permitted for students. The manufacturing industry, contributing 28.8% of GDP, is focused mainly on the textile, construction, and chemical sectors. Several laws are in place to facilitate the privatization of the water sector. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the primary drivers of the private sector’s economic output.

Jordan’s main exports are fertilizers, calcium phosphates, packaged medicines, clothing and apparel, and phosphoric acid. The country’s main imports include automobiles, refined petroleum, natural gas, crude oil, and clothing and apparel. The Jordanian economy is heavily reliant on foreign investment, offering attractive business opportunities in a politically stable environment. Investors benefit from stable exchange rates and relatively moderate inflation rates.

The EU and Jordan maintain a strong partnership across multiple sectors, having been linked by an association agreement since 2002. The EU is Jordan’s largest trade partner, accounting for 12% of its trade in 2021. 15.3% of Jordan’s imports come from the EU, but only 4.4% of its exports go to the EU. Germany is Jordan’s most significant European trading partner. The German-Jordanian University (GJU), established in 2005, is Germany’s largest university export project in Jordan, with a focus on engineering disciplines and business studies. This state university’s curricula and teaching programs are modeled after those of German universities of applied sciences.