ther natural resources. Poverty, unemployment, and
inflation are fundamental problems, but King ABDALLAH II, since
assuming the throne in 1999, has undertaken some broad economic
reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards. Since
Jordan's graduation from its most recent IMF program in 2002, Amman
has continued to follow IMF guidelines, practicing careful monetary
policy, making substantial headway with privatization, and opening
the trade regime. Jordan's exports have significantly increased
under the free trade accord with the US and Jordanian Qualifying
Industrial Zones (QIZ), which allow Jordan to export goods duty free
to the US. In 2006, Jordan reduced its debt-to-GDP ratio
significantly. These measures have helped improve productivity and
have made Jordan more attractive for foreign investment. Before the
US-led war in Iraq, Jordan imported most of its oil from Iraq. Since
2003, however, Jordan has been more dependent on oil from other Gulf
nations. The government ended subsidies for petroleum and other
consumer goods in 2008 in an effort to control the budget. The main
challenges facing Jordan are reducing dependence on foreign grants,
reducing the budget deficit, attracting investments, and creating
jobs.

Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in
territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves
and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a
large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain.
Kazakhstan's industrial sector rests on the extraction and
processing of these natural resources. The breakup of the USSR in
December 1991 and the collapse in demand for Kazakhstan's
traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term
contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline
occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of
economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a
substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. Kazakhstan
enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 8% or more per year in
2002-07 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to
economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. Inflation,
however, jumped to more than 10% in 2007. In the energy sector, the
opening of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western
Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea