Jordan’s trade balance deficit down 10% in H1 2023 — DoS

AMMAN — Jordan's trade balance deficit dropped 10 per cent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period of last year, decreasing from JD4.947 billion to JD4.454 billion, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced on Thursday.

The value of the Kingdom’s total exports reached JD4.198 billion in the first six months of 2023, representing a 2.3 per cent increase from the JD4.104 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2022, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the January-June period of 2023, national exports also went up 0.9 per cent, reaching JD4.514 billion compared with JD4.473 billion in the first half of 2022, DoS figures showed.

Meanwhile, the value of reexports stood at JD316 million, marking a 14.4 per cent drop compared with the JD369 million recorded during the same period of 2022, the DoS added.

Imports also decreased by 4.8 per cent, dropping to JD8.968 billion from the JD9.420 billion recorded in the January-June period of 2022.

Monthly figures showed that exports in June 2023 totalled JD831  million, marking a 15.8 per cent drop compared with the figure reported during the same month of 2022.

This June witnessed a 13.7 per cent decrease in national export value compared with June of 2022, at a value of JD783 million. June 2023 also experienced a 40 per cent drop in reexport value compared with the same month of 2022, with reexports totalling JD48 million.

Import values reached JD1.32 billion in June, a decrease of 29.1 per cent when compared with the corresponding month of 2022.

According to the DoS report, the trade balance deficit in June declined by 44.1 per cent compared to June 2022, reaching JD489 million.