Across the Middle East, governments are pursuing growth, jobs, and export competitiveness in an environment defined by volatility. Regional conflict, geopolitical spillovers, tightening global financial conditions, and shifts in donor support all exert pressure on economic governance systems. In this context, economic governance support initiatives can be important catalysts of reform, but much depends on how those initiatives are designed and delivered.
Jordan’s recent experience underscores both the severity of regional constraints and the promise of underlying economic momentum. Despite sustained regional shocks, merchandise exports reached around US$12.6 billion in 2023, increasing by more than $1 billion since 2019, with continued strength in garments, fertilizers, chemicals, jewelry, and pharmaceuticals, and solid demand from key markets including the United States, India, and Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, while unemployment remains a structural challenge, employment outcomes have held up better than might be expected, with continued net job creation through 2023 despite high debt burdens and external pressures. These outcomes point to resilience rather than fragility, and help explain why confidence, credibility, and macroeconomic discipline matter directly for jobs and exports in a small, open economy.
Our experience supporting the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan through the U.K. Government-funded Macroeconomic Advisory Support (MAS) project shows that demand‑led economic governance delivers results when it is strategically consistent, operationally agile, and designed to build long‑term government responsiveness.
Strategic Alignment: Designing for Macro Impact
Demand‑led programming is most effective when it is anchored in clear strategic objectives. The Government of Jordan’s priority was preserving macroeconomic stability, maintaining access to international markets, and protecting fiscal space for growth and social spending. These outcomes are foundational for job creation and export performance in a small, open economy exposed to external shocks.
For MAS, this strategic prioritisation translated into demand for support to underpin sovereign debt management, investor engagement, credit rating strategy, and assured implementation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program in Jordan. Rather than dispersing effort across a wide reform agenda, MAS concentrated on the relatively few macro‑critical levers that directly shape investor confidence and decision making.
This disciplined approach delivered tangible results. MAS supported the preparation and execution of a $700 million Eurobond issuance, helping Jordan access international markets despite a challenging global environment.
Jordan successfully implemented successive IMF reviews under the Extended Fund Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, unlocking disbursements of $1 billion. Passing these reviews provided a strong signal to investors and credit rating agencies about the government’s commitment to reform and macroeconomic discipline, supporting confidence in Jordan’s sovereign risk profile and continued access to international capital markets.
At the same time, MAS sustained engagement with investors through a roadshow in London that reached 29 global institutional investors, including most of Jordan’s largest bondholders, collectively managing $43.5 trillion in assets. These efforts reinforced investor confidence and supported market access at a time of regional uncertainty.
In addition to engaging financial markets, MAS developed macroeconomic governance analyses—for example, around benchmarking electricity tariffs and assessing implicit subsidies—that feed into Jordan’s Economic Modernisation Vision and inform the government’s structural reform priorities regarding competitiveness and fiscal sustainability.
“Maintaining macroeconomic stability is not an end in itself but a foundation for jobs, investment, and exports,” said DAI’s Team Leader for the MAS Programme, Feras Momani. “Demand‑driven economic governance support has enabled Jordan to navigate external shocks while continuing to advance long‑term development and modernization priorities.”
Operational Agility: Politically Informed, Demand‑Led Models
In shock‑prone environments, rigid workplans rarely survive first contact with reality. MAS was designed to be politically informed and operationally agile, allowing advisory support to pivot quickly in response to emerging risks, political constraints, and government demand.
This agility was tested repeatedly. Periods of escalating conflict and other stresses in the region required rapid political economy analysis, measured advice, and coordinated messaging across the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, and international partners. The project shifted effort to where it was most needed.
One example came in early 2025, following the sudden pause of U.S. Government funding that had supported IMF coordination. MAS responded rapidly by helping the Jordanian government re‑establish reform matrices and internal coordination arrangements, ensuring Jordan successfully completed its third IMF Extended Fund Facility review. This kind of pivot is only possible where partners are trusted, politically informed, and able to reallocate resources quickly.
Operational agility also proved critical in protecting Jordan’s credit standing. During a period when several peer countries in the region suffered downgrades, MAS’s support helped maintain credit rating stability, including during Moody’s deliberations on a potential upgrade. This support involved rapid responses to agency inquiries, clear articulation of reform progress, and close coordination across government institutions.
In the Middle East, effective economic governance initiatives must be designed not only to deliver reforms, but to operate credibly during times of stress. Speed, trust, and discretion are essential features, not optional extras.
Sustainable by Design: Building Responsiveness in Government
Sustainability in economic governance is often framed as capacity building or handover of tools. While these matter, our experience on MAS suggests that sustainability is best understood as embedding the ability to respond effectively to shocks. We pursued this vision of sustainability by transferring analytical skills, mentoring our counterparts, and working with them to ensure that reformed approaches and processes are embedded in the institutions of government.
For example, MAS developed a comprehensive liability management model with the Ministry of Finance, enabling government analysts to independently run funding scenarios and assess trade‑offs. This analytical capability now sits with government decision makers, not external consultants.
Similarly, MAS delivered the first formal credit ratings training for officials at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, and the Central Bank. By demystifying rating agency methodologies and engagement practices, MAS helped position government teams to lead future review cycles with confidence.
Taking on new areas of reform, MAS’s Green Finance Mapping laid the foundation for dialogues around climate and sector financing—particularly in energy and water—that will inform policy choices far beyond the life of the project.
Crucially, these efforts focused not just on skills, but on systems and institutions. By strengthening coordination mechanisms, policy practices, and cross‑government engagement, MAS helped establish a way of working that can endure through political transitions and future shocks.
Conclusion
The experience of MAS in Jordan reinforces a clear insight for economic governance technical assistance in volatile regions in the Middle East and beyond. Demand‑led approaches deliver the greatest impact when they are strategically focused, politically informed, operationally agile, and designed to build lasting responsiveness within government systems.
In a shock‑prone world, resilience is not achieved through static plans, but through the ability to adapt without losing direction. For governments seeking growth and stability, and for donors designing the next generation of economic programming, demand‑led economic governance offers a credible path from macro stability to jobs, exports, and long‑term resilience.
