Economics Jordan, struggling to speed up its pace of economic and regulatory reforms, expects foreign direct investment to drop next year before ultimately rebounding, its industry and trade minister has said. Jordan's economy has been hurt by regional protests and energy supply disruptions tied to the Arab Spring, Minister for Industry and Trade Shabib Ammari said in an interview. "The last figure that I have in mind today with respect to FDI (foreign direct investment) during 2011 was a bit below $2 billion," he said on the sidelines of the International Economic Alliance symposium. "I would expect 2013 to be maybe $1.5 billion, anywhere between $1 billion to $1.5 billion, 2014 may double this figure," he added. More from English Ahram An Iranian official says Tehran plans to create its own search engine and e-mail service to replace Google and its Gmail e-mail service, even as it weights lifting
