More than half of 1,200 sample pessimistic about country’s economy

AMMAN — More than 50 per cent of Jordanians have described the current economic performance in the country as “bad and very bad”, according to the results of an opinion poll released Tuesday.

The poll, which covered 1,200 Jordanians from across the Kingdom’s governorates, showed that 57 per cent of respondents are not optimistic about the economy, while 28.4 per cent said it is within average, and 14.6 per cent said it is good, very good and excellent.

Conducted by the Phenix Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies, the poll showed that 61.3 per cent of respondents believe that the current economic situation is worse than it was last year. 

Of the total respondents, 30.6 per cent said the economy has not changed, while 8.2 per cent said it has improved.

As for future prospects, 54.4 per cent said they are “pessimistic” and expect the economic situation to worsen further next year, while only 13.3 per cent expect it to improve. 

Less than half (45.6 per cent) of the respondents described their income as “low and very low”, compared to 19.2 per cent who said their salary is either good, very good or excellent; while 35.3 per cent said their income is within the average.

An overwhelming majority (92 per cent) said prices of commodities are too high, while 68.7 per cent of the sample said no job opportunities are available.

The poll is the second of three the Phenix centre is conducting on the economic situation in the Kingdom.

In the first poll, which was conducted last year, 46.88 per cent of respondents said they believe that the Kingdom’s economy will improve.

Almost 60 per cent of respondents said the condition of the economy in 2014 was worse than in 2013, while 31 per cent said it did not change, and only 8.6 per cent were optimistic and said it was better than the previous year.