AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan appointed on Thursday a veteran finance ministry official as finance minister in the new government to oversee talks with the International Monetary Fund on completing austerity measures that aim to reduce the country’s growing public debt.
Izzeddin Kanakrieh, who has been working with the finance ministry since 1986, served as deputy finance minister and was part of the government team that negotiated with the IMF over the three-year austerity progam due to end next year.
Jordan is expected to ask the IMF for more time to implement reforms, after some of the largest protests in years showed pushing the debt-burdened country beyond its means risked major instability, officials said.
Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Gareth Jones
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