Jordan

Following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the UK received a mandate to govern much of the Middle East. Britain separated out a semi-autonomous region of Transjordan from Palestine in the early 1920s, and the area gained its independence in 1946; it adopted the name of Jordan in 1950. The country's long-time ruler was King HUSSEIN (1953-99). A pragmatic leader, he successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers (US, USSR, and UK), various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population. Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel in the 1967 war and barely managed to defeat Palestinian rebels who threatened to overthrow the monarchy in 1970. King HUSSEIN in 1988 permanently relinquished Jordanian claims to the West Bank. In 1989, he reinstituted parliamentary elections and initiated a gradual political liberalization; political parties were legalized in 1992. In 1994, he signed a peace treaty with Israel. King ABDALLAH II, the son of King HUSSEIN, assumed the throne following his father's death in February 1999. Since then, he has consolidated his power and undertaken an aggressive economic reform program. Jordan acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2000, and began to participate in the European Free Trade Association in 2001. In 2003, Jordan staunchly supported the Coalition ouster of Saddam in Iraq and following the outbreak of insurgent violence in Iraq, absorbed thousands of displaced Iraqis. Municipal elections were held in July 2007 under a system in which 20% of seats in all municipal councils were reserved by quota for women. Parliamentary elections were held in November 2007 and saw independent pro-government candidates win the vast majority of seats. In November 2009, King ABDALLAH exercised his constitutional authority to dissolve parliament and called for new elections. Separately, he dismissed the government and appointed a new prime minister and cabinet in December 2009. The King charged the new government with conducting elections before the end of 2010 as well as instituting economic and political reforms.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Jordanian dinar (ISO code: JOD)
* Central bank discount rate: 6.25% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 9.03% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $7.781 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $19.04 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Jordan: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	8 152	8 464	8 980	9 584	10 198	11 411	12 629	14 839 	17 005 	21 238
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Jordan: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	113.616	115.050	
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Jordan: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	32.852
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Jordan: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	36.568
Debt to revenue (years) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Jordan on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Jordan
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries