<p>Amman: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/jordan">Jordan's</a> King Abdullah swore in a reformist government on Wednesday tasked with accelerating IMF-backed reforms and pushing through political and economic modernisation plans, officials said.</p><p>The Harvard-educated prime minister, Jafar Hassan, headed the monarch's office in his last job. Hasan has proven to be an able administrator during a long public career in which he oversaw economic reforms as a deputy premier and during a stint as planning minister, according to officials and politicians.</p>.What we know so far about the deadly pager blasts in Lebanon.<p>Politicians say a key task is accelerating IMF-guided reforms and reining in more than $50 billion in public debt in a country with high unemployment and whose stability is supported by billions of dollars of foreign aid from Western donors.</p><p>The traditional conservative establishment had long been blamed for obstructing a modernisation drive advocated by the Western-leaning monarch, fearing liberal reforms would erode their grip on power.</p><p>The new 32-member cabinet includes moderates, tribal politicians and technocrats. Jafar had canvassed the views of the powerful Islamist opposition which made significant gains in parliamentary elections earlier this month.</p><p>The Islamists won 31 seats, the most they have held since parliamentary life was revived in 1989 after decades of martial law, leaving them the largest political grouping in parliament.</p><p>Although the new composition of the 138-member parliament retains a pro-government majority, the more vocal Islamist-led opposition could challenge IMF-backed free-market reforms and foreign policy, diplomats and officials say.</p>
<p>Amman: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/jordan">Jordan's</a> King Abdullah swore in a reformist government on Wednesday tasked with accelerating IMF-backed reforms and pushing through political and economic modernisation plans, officials said.</p><p>The Harvard-educated prime minister, Jafar Hassan, headed the monarch's office in his last job. Hasan has proven to be an able administrator during a long public career in which he oversaw economic reforms as a deputy premier and during a stint as planning minister, according to officials and politicians.</p>.What we know so far about the deadly pager blasts in Lebanon.<p>Politicians say a key task is accelerating IMF-guided reforms and reining in more than $50 billion in public debt in a country with high unemployment and whose stability is supported by billions of dollars of foreign aid from Western donors.</p><p>The traditional conservative establishment had long been blamed for obstructing a modernisation drive advocated by the Western-leaning monarch, fearing liberal reforms would erode their grip on power.</p><p>The new 32-member cabinet includes moderates, tribal politicians and technocrats. Jafar had canvassed the views of the powerful Islamist opposition which made significant gains in parliamentary elections earlier this month.</p><p>The Islamists won 31 seats, the most they have held since parliamentary life was revived in 1989 after decades of martial law, leaving them the largest political grouping in parliament.</p><p>Although the new composition of the 138-member parliament retains a pro-government majority, the more vocal Islamist-led opposition could challenge IMF-backed free-market reforms and foreign policy, diplomats and officials say.</p>