Jordan is set to sell bonds for the first time in two years in a bid to raise funds, as the country struggles to cope with a rising energy bill, a massive influx of Syrian refugees and a huge cut in foreign aid.
The second-smallest economy in the Middle East will sell eurobonds early this year, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour told Bloomberg.
“The country has been hit by external factors ranging from political tension, rise in energy prices and global economic slowdown,” Tariq Qaqish, deputy head of asset management at Al Mal Capital PSC in Dubai, told Bloomberg. “A big factor would be the confidence of investors that the government is taking the right measures to narrow the deficits.”
Jordan imports more than 90 percent of its oil and is desperate for foreign investment to support the government purse.
Fuel subsidies were removed in November, sparking mass protests, under the conditions of an International Monetary Fund loan agreed on in July.
