Ten months after King Abdullah Bin Hussein took the throne, Jordan's economy is emerging from a 10-year stagnation, with a fairly amazing 2 percent economic growth expected for 1999.

The latest statistics showed that Jordan saw a 1.5 percent economic growth rate in the first 10 months of this year, which indicates that the kingdom can meet its 2 percent annual growth target. Last year's economic growth was a negative 2.5 percent.

Official unemployment rate dropped to some 10 percent from 17 percent in 1998, although independent estimates still put the figure at over 20 percent.

Inflation remained at very low level and foreign currency reserves rose to 1.92 billion dollars by end-August, enough to pay for six months of imports, from 13.3 billion dollars in the same period in 1998.

Economists attributed the positive economic performance to efforts made by the king and his government to carry out economic reforms, streamline bureaucratic apparatus, amend economic laws to improve the investment atmosphere and the king's active diplomacy to attract more foreign aid and investments.

Abdullah has put economic development as the top priority for the government headed by Prime Minister Abdel Rauf Rawabdeh, which he appointed in March shortly after he assumed the throne in February after his father King Hussein died.

Drastic measures are being taken on economic structure reform, including efforts to change some of the non-profitable state enterprises into share-holding companies. The national carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines, the Jordanian Telecom and the railway system in the southern harbor city of Aqaba are among the targeted.

The kingdom is also going at top gear to join the 135-member World Trade Organization (WTO) to promote trade with North American and European countries while reducing dependence on its traditional markets in Arab countries.

Jordanian officials are optimistic that the kingdom would be admitted into the WTO by early next year.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah and the government strived to get more foreign aid and investments into the cash-strapped kingdom, and the U.S., the top donor, provide some 271 million dollars of economic and military aid to Jordan in the fiscal year ending on September 30.

Prime Minister Rawabdeh said foreign investments would reach 1 billion dollars by the end of 1999, most going to mining, fertilizer and tourism industries.

Abdullah visited the U.S., Britain, France and other major creditor countries in a bid to partly write off or reschedule the payoff of the country's 7.2 billion dollars of foreign debts, one of the major stumbling blocks in the way for further economic development.

But the economists pointed out that, given its weak economic fundamentals and shortage in natural resources, the kingdom still has a long way to achieve a economic prosperity.