World Bank Approves a US$700 Million Loan to Support Private Investment and Jobs in Jordan
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$700 million loan for Jordan to help convert macroeconomic stability into stronger private investment, faster growth and more jobs, the second operation in a programmatic reform series.
The financing, the Jordan Growth and Competitiveness Development Policy Financing II, supports government reforms aimed at improving the business environment, expanding access to finance, creating employment and accelerating Jordan’s green and digital transition. It follows a first US$400 million operation approved in 2025 under the same reform agenda.
The reforms target several structural constraints on Jordan’s growth. They include streamlining sectoral licensing, modernising the legal framework for electronic and cross-border transactions, extending social protection to workers in flexible and part-time employment, and opening electricity generation, transmission and storage to private investment. The programme also widens access to finance through capital-market modernisation, crowdfunding, cash-flow-based lending, business accounts for unbanked micro-entrepreneurs, green finance under Jordan’s national green taxonomy, insurance-sector reform and a shift to fully digital government payments.
The approval comes against a broadly stable backdrop. Jordan recorded real GDP growth of 2.8 percent in 2025 despite a difficult regional environment, and secured its first sovereign credit-rating upgrade in more than two decades in 2024, reaffirmed in 2025, supported by contained inflation and a stable external position under its Economic Modernization Vision 2033.
Why it matters: The loan is a clear multilateral vote of confidence in Jordan’s reform trajectory and its shift from stability toward higher private-sector-led growth. The value is not only the financing but the policy anchor attached to it: lower-cost multilateral funding tied to licensing, labour, finance, digital, green and energy-sector reforms, which can reduce financing pressure, lift investor confidence and help tackle the deeper challenge of job creation among youth, women and smaller firms. For MENA, Jordan’s progress matters beyond its own borders, as the country is closely tied to Gulf investment, regional labour markets and donor-financing networks, so a more competitive and financially inclusive Jordan reduces regional financing risk and strengthens a strategically important neighbour.
Outlook: Execution is the main test. The impact will depend on how quickly licensing reforms cut business costs, whether flexible-work reforms expand formal employment rather than reclassify existing work, how far private capital enters the power sector, and whether new financing tools translate into real MSME credit growth. Steady implementation, alongside the reform-linked financing and Jordan’s improved credit standing, would help turn macro stability into faster, job-rich growth, with regional volatility the main external risk.
Sources: World Bank.
