Governments invariably find themselves caught between two difficult choices: protecting Treasury revenues or protecting the citizen. Every dinar the state absorbs to ease the burden on people adds further pressure to public finances, whilst every measure aimed at reining in the deficit may directly push up the cost of living. The real challenge is not choosing one path or the other, but finding a way to walk both simultaneously.

 

Through to the end of April 2026, the government was operating in an exceptionally complex regional environment. The wider region has been living with the consequences of a war that has disrupted supply chains, trade flows, energy supplies, and freight, whilst Jordan has faced additional pressures tied to rising import costs and intermittent interruptions to gas supplies. And yet, the financial data shows that economic management has maintained a degree of fiscal discipline that merits closer attention.

 

Reading the financial performance through to the end of April 2026, one can see a clear attempt to strike this balance. On one hand, the government continued to absorb additional costs imposed by the regional situation — the war and its knock-on effects on energy, transport, and trade. On the other, it maintained a relatively disciplined financial trajectory, as the official figures bear out.

 

By the end of April 2026, domestic revenues reached JD3,308.2 million, compared with JD3,307.5 million during the same period in 2025. Total public revenues rose to JD3,404.1 million, up from JD3,329.1 million, an increase of JD75.1 million. Tax revenues reached JD2,456 million, compared with JD2,451.4 million over the same period last year. These figures reflect the capacity of public finances to maintain revenue stability despite the surrounding pressures.

 

What matters here, however, is not the figures themselves but the circumstances in which they were achieved. The government did not pass the full cost of the crisis on to the citizen. It continued to subsidise domestic gas cylinders despite rising costs, absorbed additional burdens arising from energy supply disruptions, and held gas prices for the industrial sector steady to prevent cost increases feeding through into the prices of goods and services.

 

At the same time, measures were taken to safeguard food security and prevent market shortages, including the provision of a financing facility for the import and stockpiling of essential commodities. Soft financing programmes for economic, productive, and tourism sectors were also expanded, with the aim of preventing the regional crisis from reaching the pockets of ordinary Jordanians.

 

This policy came at a clear financial cost. Current expenditure rose to JD3,761.6 million by the end of April 2026, compared with JD3,468.8 million over the same period in 2025, an increase of JD292.8 million. Total spending climbed to JD4,097.3 million, up from JD3,798.3 million, a rise of JD 299 million.

 

Even so, the figures show no sign of fiscal abandon. Non-tax revenues reached JD852.2 million, and external grants rose sharply to JD95.9 million compared with just JD21.6 million during the same period last year, a jump of 344.2 per cent. Customs revenues grew by 14.2 per cent to reach JD91.5 million, whilst property transfer tax rose by 5 per cent to JD34.8 million.

 

The most significant indicator, however, is the primary deficit. Despite rising expenditure, higher interest costs, and ongoing regional turbulence, the primary deficit improved markedly to JD107.7 million, compared with JD318.1 million over the same period last year, an improvement of more than JD210 million. This suggests that financial management has been largely successful in maintaining a balance between necessary spending commitments and the long-term sustainability of public finances.

 

These figures do not suggest that the challenges are over, nor that pressure on the Treasury has eased, quite the contrary. The pressures remain considerable, and the costs of the war and energy disruptions have not gone away. But the numbers do indicate that an effort is being made to move in two directions at once: protecting the Treasury from deterioration whilst shielding the citizen from bearing the full weight of the crisis.

 

None of this constitutes a defence of any government or an attempt to excuse shortcomings that may well exist. Government performance must remain subject to constant scrutiny and accountability. But fair assessment begins with facts, not impressions. Journalism is not a platform for repeating rumours or chasing populism, it is a tool for delivering accurate information to the public and to policymakers alike.

 

People may disagree about policies, and opinions on priorities will naturally differ. But figures remain the most objective point of reference. When we examine the results of the first four months of the year, we find a government that faced a complex regional environment, absorbed significant additional costs to protect both the market and the citizen, and, at the same time, maintained a reasonably coherent fiscal trajectory. That is not an opinion. It is published data that anyone can read, scrutinise and judge for themselves.