Economy in post-Covid recovery mode, data suggests

After more than a year of Covid-prompted closures and lockdowns, the national economy has started to bounce back from the ramifications of the pandemic, which has taken a heavy toll on businesses and individuals, according to preliminary data compiled by Petra.

Public finance figures and sectorial figures suggest that the economy is now on an upward trajectory, especially following the reopening of closed sectors, but full recovery will need some time, Petra’s analysis of the data indicates.

In the first four months of the current year, domestic revenue jumped by a whopping JD652 million to a total of JD2.566 billion, while tax collections soared by 25 per cent in the same period, hitting a total of JD1.855 billion against JD1.482 billion in the corresponding period of 2020.

Local banks’ assets inched up by 0.5 per cent as of April, reaching JD57.341 billion while deposits totaled JD37.326 billion, indicating a rise of 1.5 per cent from the figures reported at the end of last year.

By the end of April, the Central Bank of Jordan had a foreign currency reserve of JD15.535 billion, enough to cover the Kingdom’s imports for more than 8 months. Also, remittances by Jordanian expatriates hit JD599 million in the January-March period of the current year.

Moreover, the real estate sector has been recording strong recovery in the past five months, growing by 37 per cent, compared with the same period of 2019. In May alone, the value of real estate deals grew by 8 per cent to a total of JD306 million.

As for them performance of companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange, the figures reveal that the combined profit of 162 firms increased from JD106 million in the first quarter of 2020 to JD294 million in the same period of this year.

Furthermore, the volume of cargo handled at the Aqaba Port picked up by 9 per cent in the past five months, reaching 5.8 million tons from 5.3 million tons reported in the same period of 2020, while the number of ships which docked in the southern port increased to 717 ships, a rise of 6 per cent from the 674 ships reported in the same period of 2020.

Source: Jordan News Agency