ABSTRACT
In 1989, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan embarked on a programme of economic reform, backed by the IMF and World Bank. More than a decade later, the results of financial stabilization and structural adjustment measures are still ambivalent: Markets are liberalized, but in terms of economic growth, competitiveness, and private capital investments, the Jordanian economy remained relatively weak (cf. Royal Scientific Society, 1997; Harrigan and El-Said, 2000). Despite a relatively liberal economic policy, the kingdom has to cope with similar problems as most of its neighbouring countries.
