US experts commend Jordan for turning crisis into golden opportunity

AMMAN — US experts have commended the financial measures taken by the Jordanian government and the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

Three experts wrote an article published by Project Syndicate online about the government and the CBJ’s measures aimed at confronting the negative repercussions of the lockdown on the national economy.

The article was written by Professor of Economics at Northwestern University Dean Karlan, Alison Fahey of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab within Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Nathaniel Goldberg of the IPA Foundation for Poverty Research at Yale University.

In the article, the experts shed light on the actions of several countries including Jordan, stressing that the solid infrastructure of the Kingdom’s digital economy enabled the government to transition to electronic money-trading.

The rapid transition, conducted by the CBJ and the government through amendments to legislation and regulations, has enhanced the ability of citizens and traders to continue economic activities remotely during the lockdown, the article added.

The authors pointed out that the success of the digital economic transformation has been “evident”, as the number of e-wallets in Jordan doubled during the lockdown, particularly between February and May of this year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

They also commended the digital mechanism adopted by the Jordanian government to provide cash aid to daily wage workers affected by the lockdown.

The article stressed that Jordan “was able to turn COVID-19 crisis into a golden opportunity”, thanks to its permanent adoption of e-payment and e-wallets through linking them with providing social protection benefits to citizens, highlighting that these measures have contributed to the effective delivery of aid to beneficiaries in line with public health and safety standards.