The Central Bank of Jordan said Monday that the tourism revenues have dropped by 77.6 percent in Q1 of 2021 and reached TND175.3 million ($247.2 million) compared to TND780 million during the same period in 2020.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the government shut down the airport for six months in 2020. It further postponed reopening it several times due to concerns that travelers might cause a spike in cases.
Moreover, the Bank revealed that outgoing transfers dropped by 0.2 percent in Q1 of 2021 and reached TND599.6 million compared to the same period in 2020.
Transfers by the Jordanian workers were impacted by the pandemic, as well as the drop in oil prices.
In April, the World Bank expected Jordan’s real GDP growth to recover to 1.4 percent in 2021 from an estimated contraction of 1.8 percent over last year.
It also noted that its public debt climbed to 109 percent at end-2020, compared to 97.4 percent in 2019.
