Jordan’s foreign exchange reserves total $17.5 billion, enough to cover the country’s imports for over seven months, Adel Sharkas, governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, said on Saturday.
Speaking during the 8th Jordanian Investors and Businessmen Abroad Conference, Sharkas said that the country’s inflation rate of 2.7 percent recorded in the first seven months of 2023 is expected to remain the same for the rest of the year.
The central bank raised interest rates to safeguard monetary stability, maintain a positive margin for the Jordanian dinar against foreign currencies, and keep inflation rates at sustainable levels, he said.
Inflation is “an enemy” of every economy’s investment and purchasing power, so central banks must take strong measures to counteract it, Sharkas said.
He said the central bank’s key goal is crucial for overall investment, as well as the stability of the dinar, with a decline in global interest rates expected in the second quarter of 2024 pending sustained improvement in US economic indicators.
Jordan had the lowest inflation rate in the region last year, thanks to measures to stabilize prices in the local market and ensure a 12-month stock of wheat, which offered protection against rising global prices, which reached $650 per ton.
Sharkas said that monetary stability is the foundation for investment, adding that the central bank is looking to economic growth by creating financing opportunities that encompass critical economic sectors that employ Jordanians.
Bank Al-Etihad CEO Nadia Al-Saeed said banks operating in Jordan will assist in providing the necessary financing to economic sectors and investment projects incorporated in the national economic modernization vision, particularly those related to high-value-added industries that drive economic growth.
Jordan Kuwait Bank CEO Haitham Al-Batikhi said that Jordanian banks have the experience, expertise and advisers to offer facilities to investors and help overcome hurdles to establish enterprises, citing his bank’s financing of significant projects, primarily in renewable energy.
Mohammed Al-Ja’fari, director-general of Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation, outlined his company’s role in providing soft loan services to mainly small and medium-sized businesses.
Jordanian investors living abroad are attending the two-day conference, which is focusing on investment opportunities, and discussing the role of Jordan’s financial and banking sector in the national economy.