Is the Gulf bailout enough for crisis-hit Jordan?
Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait pledge $2.5bn help for cash-strapped kingdom.
Jordan has always been seen as an oasis of peace and stability in a volatile region.
But it is a country of limited resources and increasingly in debt. Conflicts in neighbouring Iraq and Syria have dampened trade and it has had to absorb hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Budget cuts and tax hike plans have led to mass protests, toppling the prime minister.
Gulf countries worried about another Arab Spring uprising have stepped in with $2.5bn in aid, while the European Union (EU), whose foreign policy chief was in Jordan’s capital, Amman, on Sunday, has thrown in $23m.
What is at stake in a country of huge geopolitical significance?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Jawad Al-Anani – chairman of the Amman Stock Exchange and a former Jordanian minister of foreign affairs
Ibrahim Fraihat – associate professor of conflict resolution and humanitarian studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
James Moran – senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies who served as the EU ambassador to Jordan and Yemen