The Global Phoenix - Issue 3 August 2017 | Page 43

JORDAN SYRIA
To the west of Israel, Jordan has enjoyed a
relatively stable monarchy but little economic
success. The country’s economy is among the
smallest in the Middle East. Jordan continues to
struggle with importing sufficient water, oil, and
other natural resources to sustain its population
and is heavily dependent on foreign assistance.
The monarchy has attempted to implement
economic reforms over the past two decades
and did sustain respectable GDP growth for
several years. However, the ongoing civil war
in neighboring Syria has pushed more than 1.3
million refugees across the border into Jordan,
further straining Jordan’s scarce resources. The
monarchy has attempted to accommodate the
influx by issuing work permits to many of the
Syrian refugees; but available job positions are
scarce and the unemployment rate already high.
Corporate immigration to Jordan is low, but
the country does have an existing structure of
work and business visas and visas-on-arrival for
citizens of many nations. Syria has been embroiled in civil
war since 2011. Apart from the
resulting humanitarian nightmare,
the local economy has been
virtually destroyed, with major
long-term losses in infrastructure
which will make economic
recovery difficult assuming an
eventual end to the conflict.
While GDP maintained healthy
levels prior to 2011, the economy
has obviously experienced a
major contraction since that
time. Therefore, opportunity
for international business and
corporate immigration to Syria are
virtually nonexistent at present.
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