AMMAN, 11 June 2007 — The deficit in Jordan’s balance of trade expanded by 6.7 percent in the first four months of the year, to 1.594 billion dinars ($2.25 billion), compared with 1.494 billion dinars in the same period of 2006, according to official statistics released yesterday. The growth in the trade gap was attributed by economists mainly to a 13.3 percent increase in the country’s imports, which stood at 2.90 billion dinars in the first four months of the year, compared with 2.567 billion dinars in the same period of last year. According to the Statistics Department, 26.6 percent of Jordan’s imports came from European Union countries, 33.6 percent from Arab states and 5.1 percent from the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA). The Department also reported a 22.5 per-cent increase in Jordan’s exports and re-exports between January and April this year, to 1.315 billion dinars from 1.073 billion dinars in the same period of 2006.
