The International Monetary Fund said that the impact of the increase in US customs duties on Jordanian exports "was limited", attributing this to the continued ability of textile exports - which constitute about two-thirds of Jordan's exports to the United States - to compete, in the face of higher customs duties rates faced by Jordan's main competitors.
The Fund clarified in its fourth review report within the Extended Fund Facility and the first under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility arrangements with Jordan, that Jordan's exports to the United States decreased by 2.5% from the beginning of the year 2025 until July.
The report indicated that this decrease "was more than compensated" by strong growth in exports to neighboring countries, especially Iraq and Syria (with an increase of 11.6% and 401.1% respectively during the same period).
This decrease was also offset by the robustness of tourism revenues despite the disturbances resulting from the conflict between Israel and Iran (with an increase of 7% during the first nine months).
In August of the past year, the new US customs duties on Jordan were implemented at a rate of 15%, which is "the lowest additional customs tariff rate" among countries that have a trade surplus with the United States.
The Fund expects that stronger export growth in 2025 compared to what was expected at the time of the third review of the Fund, alongside the robustness of the tourism sector, "to reduce the current account deficit to 5.1% of the Gross Domestic Product, compared with 5.8% of the Gross Domestic Product in 2024".
On the other hand, the report confirmed that the financial performance remained aligned with the goals of the Extended Fund Facility program by the end of September 2025, as the collection of tax revenues recovered during the third quarter of 2025, supported by the cancellation of the general sales tax exemption on the sale of electric and hybrid vehicles, and the simplification of the special sales tax system imposed on them starting from July, which also contributes to mitigating revenue losses resulting from the reduced oil consumption (with an expected yield equivalent to 0.2% of the Gross Domestic Product by the end of the year).
