Industrial sector drives Kingdom’s economic growth in Q1, says chambers of industry head

AMMAN — The industrial sector contributed to half of the Kingdom’s economic growth, which was achieved during the first quarter of 2024, Head of Jordanian and Amman Chambers of Industry Fathi Jaghbir said.

Jaghbir noted this achievement made the Kingdom's industries top economic sectors, contributing to Jordan’s economic growth of 2 per cent, according to an analysis of the GDP data issued by the Department of Statistics (DoS).

Jaghbir added that this expansion indicates that the Kingdom's industrial sector continues to "surmount" traditional borders, recording a growth rate of 4.3 per cent, despite multiple external influences and factors, primarily regional events, Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip and its consequences on supply chains, weak demand and price fluctuations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jaghbir also said that the sector's "positive" performance was accompanied by a recovery in exports of clothing and drugs, and an improvement in demand for some products, especially food, which was reflected in the rise in the General Industrial Production Index by 1.1 per cent during the same period.

Jaghbir noted that Jordanian industry's expansion was driven by the growth of the three main industrial sectors, the extractive industries sector, which achieved the "highest" growth rate, compared with other economic sectors during the first quarter of this year at a rate of 6.3 per cent, thus bringing its contribution to the growth of the GDP to 9.1 per cent, Petra reported.

He also highlighted that the manufacturing sector achieved a growth of 3.9 per cent, which is the "highest" contribution to GDP growth, compared with other economic sectors, which reached 32.9 per cent, followed by the electricity and water sector with a 4.9 per cent growth rate with a contribution of 3.3 per cent.

As for their GDP contribution, the manufacturing industries had the "highest" weight at 17.3 per cent, followed by extractive industries at 3.2 per cent, and then electricity and water at 1.7 per cent.