June 11, 2012

At the end of the eighties, Jordan was going through a difficult juncture on the level of the national economy, which called for the contemplation and interest of researchers. In addition to the feasibility and fruitfulness of the continuous development efforts over decades, it produced shortcomings that reached their cumulative climax at the end of that decade, which prompted the economic decision-makers to conduct comprehensive reviews, which resulted in the orientation of programs to correct the entire economic situation.

The idea of ​​holding the “Evaluation of Foreign Economic Aid to Jordan 1989-1999” conference was crystallized, with the intent that it would result in a clear anticipation of the donors’ goals for aid. It is known from previous studies that the donors’ purposes behind providing economic aid to developing countries are numerous, and they are organized within economic, political, strategic, and humanitarian axes, and often result in an appropriate return for donor countries, guaranteed by their conditions imposed on the disposal of this aid and their intervention in directing it. In addition, the objective was to identify the efficiency of aid management locally, the nature of the implemented monetary and fiscal policies, the harmoniousness of their rhythms, and their effectiveness in allocating available resources, including aid, to achieve the objectives of the correction program and the economic plan. In addition to exploring the impact of the economic aid variable, and other basic variables that the implemented policies aim to control, such as: Exports, imports, public spending, public revenue, credit, etc., to GDP. It was also hoped that two main problems would be discussed: the decline in economic growth and the widening of the poverty cycle, which received priority attention in the current economic plan and correction programme.

A number of researchers involved in dealing with foreign economic aid, from aid donor countries and reputable local institutions, participated in presenting the conference papers.

The proceedings of this conference lasted six sessionsº, and the first session focused on foreign aid strategies and policies from donors’ perspectives. It is well known that donors, whether countries, agencies, or financial institutions, have their own strategies and policies for providing economic aid to the countries that wish to receive it. In this session, two working papers were presented, the first was entitled: European Support to Jordan: Donors’ Perspective. While the second paper was entitled: The Role of the United States Agency for International Development in Jordan (USAID: The Donor’s Perspective). This session was chaired by Dr. Michel Marto, Minister of Finance.

As for the second session, it was devoted to the issue of foreign aid and the Jordanian economy. The first study in this session focused on the issue of foreign aid and economic growth in Jordan. The second study dealt with the role of monetary policies in activating the process of economic correction in Jordan. This session was chaired by Dr. Bassam Al-Saket, Chairman of the Securities Commission.

The third session was devoted to the topic of financial policies and the management of foreign aid in Jordan. The first study in this session dealt with the issue of fiscal policy and economic correction. The second study º focused on the issue of management and effectiveness of foreign aid. This session was chaired by Mr. Wassef Azer, Minister of Industry and Trade.

The fourth session, chaired by Dr. Mohieldin Touq, Director General of Education at UNRWA and UNESCO, dealt with analysis and discussion on the issue of foreign aid and poverty alleviation in Jordan. The first study in this session was about the social safety package and the Jordanian initiative to address poverty and unemployment and its interaction with aid donors. The second study included methodologies and studies for the purpose of developing programs to address poverty in Jordan. As for the last study, it was on the issue of poverty alleviation in Jordan during the nineties.

The fifth session was devoted to the topic of project evaluation. The session included two studies, the first reviewed the topic of managing poverty in Jordan, with a critical evaluation of institutional structures and processes. The second study discussed the formalization of informal activities: the new approach to poverty reduction in Jordan. The session was chaired by Dr. Khaled Al-Wazani, Director General of Customs in Jordan.

As for the sixth session, it was chaired by Dr. Mufleh Akl, Regional Director of the Jordan Branches Facilities Department at the Arab Bank, entitled “Economic Growth in Jordan”. In it, she presented a study entitled “The Dilemma of Jordanian Economic Growth in the Long Term”.

The last session included a summary of the conference proceedings, the main ideas and research presented, and the dialogue that took place in the previous sessions, in addition to new observations that the participating colleagues thought to be discussed after they emerged in the light of the discussions and papers presented. In this session, an extensive discussion took place on the various topics of the conference. This session was chaired by Dr. Atheel Al-Jumard, Head of the Economic Studies Unit at the Center for Strategic Studies.

This book includes the conference proceedings, including research, studies, and discussions. It is hoped that those interested in this topic will find the desired benefit