CBJ maintains interest rates unchanged

By JT - May 02,2024 - Last updated at May 02,2024

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.

During its third meeting of 2024, the committee discussed economic and monetary developments in the Kingdom, which demonstrated the resilience of the national economy and its sustained positive performance despite prevailing conditions in the region, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The foreign reserves of the Central Bank also hit a new record, reaching $19.1 billion, sufficient to cover the Kingdom’s imports of goods and services for 8.3 months.

Bank deposits also saw an increase of approximately JD2.2 billion by the end of February 2024, marking a 5.1 per cent annual growth rate and bringing the total to JD44.3 billion.

Credit facilities granted in dinars by banks rose by around JD744.2 million, with a 2.6 per cent annual growth rate, reaching a total balance of JD33.7 billion.

The latest financial resilience indicators, as of the end of 2023, affirm the strength and resilience of the Jordanian banking system. The implementation of balanced economic policies by the government and the Central Bank over the past two years has helped contain inflationary pressures in the Kingdom, with inflation reaching 1.7 per cent during the first quarter of 2024, down from 4.2 per cent in 2022.

The national economy achieved a real economic growth rate of 2.6 per cent for 2023, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from 2022’s level.

Preliminary data indicates a “significant” decrease in the current account deficit to 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2023, compared with 7.8 per cent in 2022, driven by an 11 per cent decline in the trade deficit and a 62.8 per cent increase in the surplus of the services account, driven by a 27.4 per cent increase in tourism income in 2023.

During the available period of 2024, data has shown an increase in workers' remittances during the first two months of 2024 by 4.6 per cent to reach $593.8 million, while tourism income reached $1.6 billion during the first quarter of 2024, compared with $1.7 billion during the same quarter of the previous year.

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