World Bank Fiscal Public Expenditure Review for Jordan: Discussion Series

Social Security Corporation (SSC)

Toward Coverage Expansion and a More Adequate, Equitable and Sustainable Pension System

• About:

This session provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities in Jordan to expand and improve social security coverage in an equitable and financially sustainable manner. The paper focuses specifically on the pension program of SSC and its financial sustainability. The aim is to help decision makers to look into a long-term strategy to expand coverage while avoid transferring the financial burden of the system to the next generations. The current COVID-19 crisis has revealed some of the weaknesses of the current system as a result there is an urgent need to increase the effective coverage to the informal sector. Jordan has now an important window of opportunity to reform further its pension program with SSC.

• Speakers:

- Moderator: Eng. Musa Saket, Vice Chairman of Alia Group

- Presenter: Ms. Montserrat Pallares-Miralles, Senior Social Protection Specialist, World Bank Group

- Panelist: Professor Zafiris Tzannatos, Senior Consultant for Strategy and Policy

- Panelist: H.E. Samir Murad, Business & Social Entrepreneur, Former Minister of Labor

- Panelist: Dr. Hazim Rhahaleh, Director General Social Security Corporation

• Full Report

Jordan - Social Security Corporation (SSC): Toward Coverage Expansion and a More Adequate, Equitable and Sustainable Pension System (the report in a PDF format)

Last Updated: Apr 05, 2021

Education Expenditure, Enrolment Dynamics and the Impact of COVID-19 on Learning in Jordan

• About:

The policy note is divided into two parts, where part I leverages data from the 2017/18 Household Expenditure and Income Survey (HEIS) to explore the utilization of education services by socioeconomic groups, refugee status and gender. It also analyzes data from the latest PISA round to estimate access to technology and online resources before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Part II of the policy note simulates the potential impact of COVID-19 on learning outcomes in Jordan and illustrates the magnitude of the education sector challenge, and how the World Bank has developed a tool to estimate the adverse effects of COVID-19 on children’s learning. 

Social Security Net: Building on Successful Reforms

About:

In recent years, the Government of Jordan (GoJ) has introduced important reforms in social safety nets to improve the protection of the poor and vulnerable. In 2019, the GoJ launched the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) and its flagship program, Takaful, a modern cash transfer program managed by the National Aid Fund (NAF) that will reach 185,000 poor households by the end of 2021. The Takaful delivery platform enabled the GoJ to quickly and efficiently respond to COVID-19 with emergency cash transfers, and it forms the basis of the future National Unified Registry (NUR), a single gateway for all Jordanians seeking assistance. The recently launched Economic Empowerment Strategy (EES) aims to support the transition of NAF beneficiaries out of poverty through the labor market. The paper presented will document these reforms and analyze their impact. It will show, for example, that Takaful has become the single most redistributive program in the GoJ budget. It will then identify remaining challenges and suggest reforms to further enhance social protection programs in a cost-effective way.

Water-Fiscal Nexus

• About:

As one of the most water scarce countries, the allocation of water for different uses (agriculture, domestic water supply and industry) is both a key economic question and one that has associated fiscal impact. The paper presents the reasons for the rising fiscal cost of delivering water supply and sanitation services in Jordan. It then projects the costs of relying on further supply-side solutions – such as increasing the amount of water produced from desalinating sea water – in the face of current water resource allocation. Moreover, the paper examines both current and future options for reforms to potentially reduce this cost.  Finally, crucial tradeoffs required to bring the water sector back into financial equilibrium are presented and discussed.