Jordan’s Trade Gap Widens by 53.4%

AMMAN, 15 May 2008 — The deficit in Jordan’s balance of trade grew by 53.4 percent in the first quarter of the year, to 1.7 billion dinars ($2.4 billion) from 1.11 billion dinars in the same period of 2007, according to official statistics released yesterday. Economists attributed the sharp rise in the country’s trade gap mainly to a 38 percent growth in Jordan’s imports which stood at 2.877 billion dinars in the first three months of the year compared with 2.079 billion dinars in the first quarter of 2007.