2024 economic indicators highlight resilience of national economy — report

AMMAN — Many indicators of the national economy witnessed a "remarkable" growth so far in 2024 despite the region's geopolitical challenges, which continue to affect the overall performance of Jordan's economic activity.

Despite regional instability due to the consequences of the Israeli aggression against Gaza, Jordan remains "committed" to carrying out sound economic policies, aimed at maintaining the stability of the country's overall economy and moving forward with the implementation of the Economic Modernisation Vision, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, citing recent economic indicators.

According to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the national economy's performance continues to be "steadfast and resilient" during successive challenges, primarily due to the brutal aggression on Gaza and the Red Sea crisis that affected trade movement.

The latest economic indicators showed that the GDP recorded a growth of 2 per cent at constant prices during the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year.

The extractive industries sector achieved the "highest" growth during this period at 6.3 per cent, contributing 0.18 per cent to the achieved growth rate, followed by the agriculture sector at 5.7 per cent with a 0.30 per cent contribution, then the electricity and water sector at 4.8 per cent, with a 0.07 per cent share.

Also, domestic revenues during the first quarter of the current year reached JD2.041 billion, marking an increase of JD45.6 million, compared with the same period of the previous year, which covered current expenditures by 85.4 per cent, while tax revenues increased during the comparison period by JD61.7 million.

In terms of public spending, the total spending of the central government/budget during the first quarter of 2024 amounted to JD2.488 billion, compared with JD2.387 billion during the same period of the previous year.

As a result of previous developments, the pre-aid general budget recorded a financial deficit of JD428.8 million, compared with JD381.1 million in the same period last year.

The government debt balance, after excluding loans to the Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF), amounted to JD32.537 billion, or 89.1 per cent of the GDP for March 2024, compared with 89.5 per cent at the end of 2023, the latest economic data showed.

A total of 7.6 billion securities were registered with the Securities Depository Centre of Jordan (SDC) last June with a total value of JD18.6 billion.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,028 companies were registered in the first half of this year, up by 5 per cent over the same period in 2023, including 2,188 limited liability firms, representing 72.2 per cent of registered companies, with registered capital exceeding JD48.3 million.

According to the data, the Kingdom's tourism income amounted to $2.6 billion during the first five months of the current year, down by 6.5 per cent, compared with the corresponding period in 2023, due to a 10 per cent decline in the number of tourists.

Inflation rose by 1.65 per cent during the first five months of the current year.

As for the unemployment rate in the Kingdom, figures dropped in the first quarter of this year by 0.5 per cent, compared ith the first quarter of last year, and remained "stable", against the last quarter of last year, recording 21.4 per cent.

The value of total exports in the first third of the current year amounted to JD2.748 billion, compared to JD2.872 billion for the same period last year, marking a decrease of 4.3 per cent, the data revealed.

Also in the first third of this year, the value of national exports amounted to JD2.488 billion, compared to JD2.682 billion for the same period last year, recording a decrease of 7.2 per cent.

The value of the Kingdom's imports surged in the first four months of the year by 0.1 per cent to reach JD5.818 billion, compared with JD5.813 billion for the same period in 2023.

As a result, the deficit in the Kingdom’s trade balance in the first third of this year amounted to JD3.070 billion, compared with JD2.941 billion for the same period last year, constituting an increase of 4.4 per cent.

The Central Bank of Jordan's foreign reserves maintained their "high" levels of $18.8 billion, which are sufficient to cover the Kingdom's imports of goods and services for 8.2 months, the figures showed.