CBJ maintains interest rates amid positive economic indicators

AMMAN — The Open Market Operations Committee of the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) on Thursday decided to maintain interest rates on monetary policy instruments unchanged.

This decision is a result of the bank’s commitment to closely monitor the national economy’s developments, particularly monetary and banking indicators, as reported by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The CBJ added that this decision aligns with a comprehensive review of geopolitical global and regional economic dynamics.  The committee stressed its confidence in the national economy's performance as shown by the latest economic data, highlighting that the CBJ's foreign reserves have surpassed $22.8 billion, which is sufficient to cover the Kingdom's imports of goods and services for 8.8 months.

The committee said that inflation rate remained low and stable at 2.0 per cent in the first quarter of this year, with projections indicating it will hover around 2.2 per cent throughout 2025.

It was also emphasised that the year-on-year increase in bank deposits by 6.8 per cent as of the end of March to reach JD47.4 billion. Additionally, the credit facilities granted by banks (year-on-year) also showed a growth rate of 3.9 per cent to hit JD35.2 billion.

Regarding the external sector's performance, indicators continued to show positive improvement, with tourism revenues increasing by 8.9 per cent in the first qurter of 2025 to about $1.7 billion compared with the same period last year. 

Remittances from Jordanians expatriates increased by 9.2 per cent in the first two months to some $606 million, while total exports increased by 9.2 per cent, reaching a value of $2 billion. 

Preliminary estimates indicate that the volume of foreign direct investment inflows into the Kingdom reached about $2.1 billion in 2024, reflecting investor confidence and the attractiveness of the investment environment in the Kingdom.  

At the economic activity level, the GDP recorded a growth of 2.5 per cent in 2024, with projections pointing to an increase to 2.7 per cent in 2025, supported by stronger domestic and external demand.