World Bank World Development Report 2026
The World Bank’s World Development Report 2026, titled “The Promise of AI,” places Jordan in a strategically significant watch window, indicating that the Kingdom possesses the fundamentals to accelerate transformation with the help of artificial intelligence, particularly in exportable services, productivity growth, and skills development. However, the report stresses that transformation does not happen automatically; it requires investments in skills, digital infrastructure, and firms’ knowledge, along with enabling the private sector to access AI solutions and adapt them to its needs.
The Paradox of AI Adoption Among Jordanian Firms
The report drew on a survey of 358 Jordanian firms, which revealed a striking paradox: AI adoption rates in Jordan are relatively low, placing it in a group that includes India, Mexico, and Thailand, while Kenya and Nigeria record higher adoption rates. Yet this low level carries within it a broad opportunity for growth, because most firms in developing economies already possess basic digital tools—such as communication apps, websites, management software, and spreadsheets—all of which are starting points for AI applications.
Jordan’s Policy Response: The National AI Strategy
Sami Sami, Jordan’s Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, offered a clear policy response to these findings. During the report’s launch in Amman, he affirmed that AI represents a strategic opportunity to raise productivity and expand knowledge-based service exports, and that Jordan’s ambition is “to be a producer of value in the AI era, not merely a consumer of technology.” He noted that the Kingdom approved an AI policy in 2020, then launched the National AI Strategy and its 2023–2027 executive plan, which includes 68 projects covering capacity building, research and development, investment, entrepreneurship, governance, and AI applications in priority sectors.
The Challenge: Deepening Productive Use of AI
The minister stressed that the challenge is not increasing the use of AI, but deepening its productive use and integrating it into firms’ operations, product development, data analysis, and decision-making—which requires addressing challenges of cost, skills, awareness, privacy, security, data, and digital infrastructure.
Source
Source: World Bank (World Development Report 2026), Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Rum News Agency
