Jordan

Jordan is a Middle Eastern country that is slightly smaller than Indiana that borders Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Iraq.  It occupies a total of 89,342 sq. km and has a total population of 6.5 million, growing at 0.14%.  Its capital and largest city, Amman, contains 1.08 million people.  The predominantly Muslim population is ruled by a constitutional monarchy.  The official language is Arabic, although English is widely spoken among the upper and middle classes.  The currency used is the Jordanian Dinar. 

Jordan has the smallest economy in the Middle East, and lacks the natural resources of water, oil, and gas.  The government relies heavily on foreign economic assistance.  Poverty and unemployment are serious problems, especially amongst the many foreign refugees currently living in the country.  Economic reforms enacted since 1999 under King Abdallah have created some economic growth and attracted foreign investment.  However, the global economic downturn has depressed the Jordanian economy.  Jordan’s main exports are clothing and fertilizers, and its primary trade partners are the United States, Iraq, India, and Saudi Arabia.  Recently, Jordan’s financial sector has been relatively isolated against the international financial crisis because of its limited exposure to overseas markets.  Current economic development plans include the development of nuclear energy to reduce dependence on imported energy sources.  

Click on the links below for information on doing business in Jordan.

Doing Business in Jordan (2012)

Expanding Your Brand in the Middle East: A Fresh Perspective (2012)

 Taking Your Brand to the Middle East 

Building Goodwill and U.S. Brand Awareness in the Middle East 

* CPI Score is published by Transparency International and relates to the perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 100 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).  

**Ease of Doing Business Ranking is determined by the World Bank Group and is ranked out of a possible 185 countries. www.doingbusiness.org  

Most recent statistics have been taken from the CIA World Factbook unless noted otherwise. 

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