IMF approves extending $260m to Jordan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday approved extending 260.8 million U.S. dollars to Jordan as part of 2 billion US dollars loan to the Arab kingdom. The amount increases the volume of money Jordan received from the IMF to 1.043 billion dollars as part of the loan, the IMF said in a statement on its website. "Regional instability continues to weigh on Jordan. The conflict in Syria and shortfalls in gas flows from Egypt are putting pressure on the fiscal and external accounts. The sizable influx of Syrian refugees is also straining labor and housing markets as well as the provision of public services," Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair at the IMF in Jordan, said in the statement. However, growth is slowly recovering; inflation is contained; and the external current account deficit is narrowing, Shafik noted. In the statement, the IMF said it remains critical to further improve tax administration and public financial management. It added that the central bank should consider further cuts to interest rates only if there is clear evidence that core inflation is on a downward path.