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• 
  Jordan consolidates as deeper reforms lag

  16 June 2026

  

   

  The past 12 months have tested whether a technocratic Jordanian government installed to address the country’s creeping fiscal crisis can hold the line while the region around it convulses.

  On that narrow measure, it has largely succeeded, though more by adhering to an inherited programme than by breaking new ground. The question of whether Amman can move beyond budget discipline into structural reform remains open.

  The most consequential developments of the past year have spoken more to Jordan’s dependence on external capital than to any decisive shift in domestic policy.

  The fiscal line

  When King Abdullah II appointed Jafar Hassan prime minister in September 2024, he installed a figure who had served as his chief of staff and, earlier, as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, with a specific brief to cut public debt. The choice put fiscal credibility in the chair.

  Hassan inherited a wide fiscal gap. The overall government deficit stood at 7.3% of GDP in 2024, with gross public debt at 82% of GDP and the IMF programme targeting a reduction below 80% by 2028. Growth came in at 2.6% in 2024 and is projected at 2.7% in both 2025 and 2026 – providing little support to consolidation efforts.

  The deficit is narrowing – the IMF projects 6.3% of GDP in 2025 and 5.4% in 2026 – on the back of concrete revenue measures: higher taxes on electric vehicles and e-cigarettes, the deferral of a planned customs-tariff cut, and the collection of tax arrears. Losses at the National Electric Power Company (Nepco), the state-owned single buyer, were held to 1.1% of GDP in 2024, against an expected 1.3%.

  Much of that 2024 performance, though, preceded Hassan’s September appointment, and the consolidation is, in that sense, the programme’s trajectory rather than a break attributable to the new government. A March 2026 directive curbing government vehicle use and freezing official foreign travel – tightened as the regional conflict strained the budget and extended through year-end – speaks to the active restraint being applied.

  The discipline is real, but it is the plumbing of the public finances – revenue, tariffs, arrears, loss containment – not the structural reform of the economy.

  The harder reforms

  The reforms that would lift growth and create jobs have gone virtually untouched. Labour market flexibility, stronger competition, and higher female and youth participation have recurred as priorities through successive IMF reviews but have run up against public-sector privilege and entrenched interests.

  The resulting stagnation shows in the numbers. Growth, projected at 2.7% through 2026, sits well short of what the Economic Modernisation Vision demands: a doubling of GDP by 2033 – implying sustained growth at roughly twice the current rate – in order to create one million jobs.

  The labour market is where the failure is sharpest, and where a narrower deficit changes nothing. Unemployment among Jordanians fell to 21.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025, the lowest since early 2020, but barely changed from 21.4% the previous quarter.

  Within that is a widening gender split: male unemployment fell a full point year on year to 17.2%, while among Jordanian women it rose to 34.8%, up 2.6 points. The modernisation plan promises the opposite – a doubling of female labour force participation from 14% to 28% by 2033, from a base among the lowest in the world.

  The distance between that participation target and the worsening female jobless rate illustrates how far the structural agenda still has to travel.

  Gulf capital and the Aqaba corridor

  With domestic reform slow, Amman leans on external capital to meet its infrastructure needs and stimulate the economy – though even that is faltering. Foreign direct investment ran at $1.3bn in the first three quarters of 2024, or 3.3% of GDP, down from $1.6bn a year earlier, and eased further through 2025.

  The most strategically significant deal of 2026 binds Jordan to a bet on regional logistics: the April signing with the UAE of a $2.3bn agreement to build the 360-kilometre Aqaba Port Railway, structured as a 50/50 joint venture.

  The rail project was first signed in September 2024 and sits within a broader $5.5bn investment framework agreed in 2023. MEED understands that the first-section construction contract is now being finalised and second-section bids are under evaluation, with financial close expected in early 2027.

  The Jordanian half is held by the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company, Arab Potash, the Government Investments Management Company and the Social Security Investment Fund. On the UAE side are Abu Dhabi sovereign investment platform L’Imad Holding, with Etihad Rail as the venture’s executing arm.

  The line will carry around 16 million tonnes of freight a year – some 13 million tonnes of phosphate and 2.6 million tonnes of potash – from the mines at Shidiya and Ghor Al-Safi to Aqaba’s terminals.

  The corridor is designed to extend north from Aqaba toward Amman, Syria and Turkey, and south to Saudi Arabia, positioning Aqaba – Jordan’s sole port – as a Red Sea logistics node at a time of acute concern over supply-chain chokepoints.

  For the UAE, the northward reach is the point. Abu Dhabi has moved over the past year to control Syria’s Mediterranean coast – DP World took a 30-year, $800m concession at Tartus; AD Ports took a stake in the container terminal at Latakia – and a rail line running from the Red Sea towards the Syrian border would knit those positions into a corridor from the Gulf to the Mediterranean. For Jordan, it is inward investment, lower export costs and a potential jobs source.

  Dependence on external finance is a standing caveat, however. Jordanian projects have stalled at this stage before, conflict or no conflict: the estimated $2.6bn expansion of the refinery at Zarqa, 25 kilometres northeast of the capital, has been stuck over financing since bids were received in 2021.

  The planned National Water Carrier desalination scheme – targeting financial close in July 2026 at a capital cost estimated at $4.3bn – is the bellwether to watch. If that moves on timeline or terms, the rail scheme may well follow.

  Near-term outlook

  The next two years point to continued consolidation under the IMF programme, Gulf-backed infrastructure edging towards financial close and growth holding near 3% at best.

  Hassan’s test will be to not simply hold the line his predecessors had already drawn, but to advance the structural reforms – labour market flexibility, competition, female participation – that carry a political price and that consolidation cannot substitute for.

  Those reforms have stalled for a decade under governments with more room than this one. Whether Hassan’s administration can deliver what its better-placed predecessors did not is the question that will decide whether the headline growth rate ever moves.

  ---

  This month’s special report on Jordan also includes:

  > BANKING: Caution governs Jordanian bank lending
  > POWER & WATER: Record investment drives Jordan’s utilities market
  > CONSTRUCTION: Prospects improve for Levant construction 

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  John Bambridge
• 
  Dubai to award $15bn of Al-Maktoum airport contracts this year

  16 June 2026

  Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) will award contracts worth over AED55bn ($15bn) by the end of this year for construction works at Al-Maktoum International airport.

  According to a statement published by the Emirates News Agency (Wam), the projects slated for contract awards include “the substructure works for the Western Passenger Terminal, the fourth aircraft concourse building, the automated people mover (APM) system and the baggage handling system, in addition to the superstructure works for the Western Passenger Terminal and the first, second and third aircraft concourses”.

  “The packages also encompass the long-span structural frameworks for buildings covering an area of about 1.5 million square metres (sq m), infrastructure works for the southern airfield area, as well as power generation and district cooling plants supporting the construction programme,” the statement added.

  “The award of facade and roofing packages is also planned during the course of this year,” said Suzanne Al-Anani, CEO of DAEP.

  DAEP has already awarded contracts valued at about AED13bn, with construction works currently under way on several airport packages. These include enabling works, the second runway, and the initial structural foundations for passenger terminals and gates.

  Construction progress

  In May last year, MEED exclusively reported that DAEP had awarded a AED1bn ($272m) deal to UAE firm Binladin Contracting Group to construct the second runway at the airport.

  The enabling works on the terminal are also ongoing and are being undertaken by Abu Dhabi-based Tristar E&C.

  Construction on the project’s first phase is expected to be completed by 2032.

  Construction on substructure works began in November last year, when DAEP formally selected a contractor to deliver the package.

  The government approved the updated designs and timelines for its largest construction project in April 2024.

  In a statement, the authorities said the plan is for all operations from Dubai International airport to be transferred to Al-Maktoum International within 10 years.

  According to an official description on DAEP’s website, the expanded airport’s West Terminal will be a seven-level, 800,000-square-metre facility with an annual capacity of 45 million passengers.

  It will be the second of three terminals at Al-Maktoum International airport, linked to the airside by a 14-station APM system.

  In September 2024, MEED exclusively reported that a team comprising Austria’s Coop Himmelb(l)au and Lebanon’s Dar Al-Handasah had been confirmed as the lead masterplanning and design consultants on the expansion of Al-Maktoum airport.

  The airport’s construction is planned to be undertaken in three phases. The airport will cover an area of 70 square kilometres (sq km) south of Dubai and will have five parallel runways, two terminal buildings, seven concourses and 430 aircraft gates

  It will be five times the size of the existing Dubai International airport and will have the world’s largest passenger-handling capacity of 260 million passengers a year. For cargo, it will have the capacity to handle 12 million tonnes a year.

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  Yasir Iqbal
• 
  Eleven contractors bid for Yanbu seawater cooling project

  16 June 2026

  

   

  Eleven contractors have submitted bids for a contract to build a seawater cooling system in Yanbu Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.

  The estimated $70m project is being developed by the Royal Commission for Jubail & Yanbu (RCJY).

  The project involves the construction of a seawater supply and re-cooling pipeline system serving industrial operations in the petrochemical area. The scheme is intended to reduce the need for individual cooling facilities at separate sites.

  The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was tendered on 8 March, and bids were submitted on 9 June.

  The bidders include:

  • Al-Fateh International Company for Water & Electricity (Saudi Arabia)
  • Al-Yamama Company (Saudi Arabia)
  • Alsaad General Contracting (Saudi Arabia)
  • Aqua Arabia Water Company (Saudi Arabia)
  • China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
  • Masco Group (Saudi Arabia)
  • Mofarreh Alharbi & Partners (Saudi Arabia)
  • Saad Ali Al-Essa Group (Saudi Arabia)
  • Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works (Saudi Arabia)
  • Sayegh Group of Companies (Saudi Arabia)
  • Union General Contractor (Saudi Arabia)

  The scope of work includes seawater intake structures and screening facilities, a pumping station, manholes and valves, a control building, seawater pumps, strainers and inlet and outlet headers.

  The contract also covers the installation of cooling water supply and return transmission pipelines, as well as a discharge outfall and diffuser system.

  According to MEED Projects, RCJY has awarded construction contracts for three seawater cooling projects in 2026.

  Mofarreh Alharbi & Partners secured a $40m seawater cooling system project in Jubail 2, while China Geo-Engineering Corporation won a contract to upgrade the seawater cooling network in Ras Al-Khair Industrial City.

  Local firm Bin Jarallah Group of Companies was also awarded a contract to expand the seawater cooling network in Jubail’s Plaschem Area.

  Meanwhile, Beijing-headquartered China Harbour Engineering Corporation is continuing construction on another project for RCJY.

  The project comprises a seawater cooling system catering to Jizan City for Primary & Downstream Industries. Commissioning is expected later this year.

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  Mark Dowdall
• 
  Kuwait awards oil services contract

  16 June 2026

  National Petroleum Services Company (Napesco) has secured a contract worth KD11.94m ($38.8m) to provide cementing and associated services for drilling and workover operations on unconventional wells in Kuwait.

  The contract has been awarded by the state-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and has a five-year term, according to a statement from Napesco.

  Under the agreement, Napesco will provide integrated cementing solutions designed to support well integrity, optimise drilling performance, and enhance operational efficiency across the client’s unconventional exploration and production programme.

  Kuwait’s oil and gas sector is currently in the midst of a major crisis as disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has dramatically reduced the volume of exported crude oil.

  The disruption to shipping is also creating significant challenges to construction projects in the oil and gas sector, which normally import equipment and materials through the Strait of Hormuz.

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  Wil Crisp
• 
  HKN Energy starts operating Syria’s Rmeilan oil fields

  16 June 2026

  

   

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  US-based HKN Energy is starting operations on the ground at Syria’s Rmeilan fields in Al-Hasakah Governorate, according to industry sources.

  The development comes as Syria is trying to fast-track the conversion of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed with oil companies to concrete contracts.

  Speaking at a conference in Washington on 9 June, the chief executive of state-owned Syria Petroleum Company (SPC), Youssef Qablawi, said that HKN had recently converted an MoU into a finalised deal and was preparing to start operations in Syria.

  Qablawi did not mention which assets HKN would be operating in Syria, but sources say it is starting operations on the ground at the Rmeilan fields.

  Some work related to the company’s activities in Syria is currently being carried out in HKN’s office in Erbil, in the Kurdish region of Iraq, sources said.

  The Syrian government took control of the Rmeilan oil fields earlier this year after a military operation.

  The group of fields is considered to be one of Syria’s largest oil assets and contains more than 1,300 oil wells.

  The field is said to have produced up to 120,000 barrels a day (b/d) before civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.

  Output later fell by nearly 85% after hundreds of wells went offline, either due to war damage or lack of maintenance.

  Prior to the military operation by Syria’s army earlier this year, the field was held and administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

  Foreign interest in Syria’s oil and gas sector is growing as the government moves to revive the industry and elevated global energy prices improve the economics of new developments.

  A series of agreements signed in recent months has attracted some of the world’s largest energy companies, raising expectations that investment and production could accelerate.

  New deals

  Speaking at the conference in Washington earlier this month, Qablawi said he was planning to sign a contract with ConocoPhillips today, 16 June.

  He said it would be the largest contract signed by SPC since its establishment in October last year.

  Qablawi also said he hoped to convert an MoU with the US-based oil company Chevron into a signed contract before the end of July.

  Qablawi said the country was forecasting increases in both oil and gas production and predicted it would produce 1 million b/d by 2030.

  The chief executive said that previously unexplored blocks in the country held “huge” reserves that could be developed.

  Chevron is interested in making investments in onshore production in the country, according to Qablawi.

  Downstream projects

  Syria is planning several downstream projects.

  Under current plans, the country’s Baniyas refinery will be shut down for major maintenance in July.

  The maintenance will dramatically increase the refinery’s capacity to 130,000 b/d, according to Qablawi.

  Currently, it is operating at a rate of 90,000-95,000 b/d.

  The refinery is expected to be brought back online in October this year.

  Syria is also planning to develop a new refinery, which will produce more than 200,000 b/d, and is expected by SPC to come online within four years.

  Under current plans, the front-end engineering and design (feed) for the new refinery will start in the fourth quarter of this year.

  “Syria will be exporting refined products within three years [of starting the feed],” Qablawi said. “After we have finished the construction of the new refinery.”

  Gas development

  In April, SPC signed a formal contract with Saudi Arabia’s ADES to increase gas production in central Syria.

  The contract is focused on developing five central gas fields:

  • Abu Rabah
  • Qamqam
  • North Al-Faydh
  • Al-Tiyas
  • Zumlat Al-Mahar

  The deal aims to increase Syria’s domestic gas production by up to 50% within a year.

  Speaking on 9 June, Qablawi said that ADES was mobilising for that project.

  Pipeline planning

  Syria is involved in several major pipeline projects, including plans to restore the pipeline from Kirkuk in Iraq to Baniyas in Syria.

  Qablawi said that under current plans, the contracts for this pipeline would be tendered using the build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract model.

  “We are going to pick the best company for Syria to construct this pipeline,” he said.

  Syria has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract for an extension to the existing Arab Gas Pipeline.

  The new section extends 185 kilometres from Aleppo to Homs and is being fully funded by SPC.

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  Wil Crisp