‘Demand for Jordanian dinar soars in 2014’

AMMAN — Demand for the Jordanian dinar in 2014 was the strongest in years, President of the Jordanian Exchange Association Alaa Eddine Diraniyeh said Tuesday. 

Diraniyeh explained that the surge in demand was due to strong remittances by Jordanian professionals abroad, mainly in the Gulf region, which according to official figures, reached JD2.6 billion in 2014, JD67 million higher than the previous year. 

The leading money exchanger said the Kingdom’s medical tourism sector performed “well” last year as thousands of Arabs sought treatment in the country. 

There was a boom in the performance of the tourism sector in general, particularly in the first three quarters of last year, he added, as Jordan was the preferred destination for tourists from the Gulf and other Arab and foreign countries. 

The Kingdom’s income from tourism receipts reached around JD3.1 billion last year, according to official data. 

The Saudi riyal topped the list of currencies converted into dinars, followed by the United Arab Emirates dirham, according to Diraniyeh. 

The strong demand for the dinar was reflected in record volumes of foreign reserves at the Central Bank of Jordan, which exceeded $14 billion by the end of last year, he said. 

“The first three quarters saw a very strong demand for the local currency as there was also a commercial boom in most sectors,” Diraniyeh noted, adding that the past two years recorded rising demand for the dinar, as Jordan is a stable country in a turbulent region.