Direct foreign investment grew by 2% in 2020 — JIC

AMMAN — The direct foreign investment in 2020 grew by 2 per cent with a total volume of JD497 million, Jordan Investment Commission (JIC) Acting Chairman Faridoun Hartouqa said on Saturday, citing estimations of the Central Bank of Jordan.

Speaking during the first economic Jordanian expatriate conference, organised virtually by the Jordanian Expatriates Association, Hartouqa noted that the investment volume for projects benefiting from the JIC Law in 2020 increased by 26.4 per cent compared with 2019, to 376 schemes that are expected to generate some 24,000 jobs.

He said that the volume of these new projects totalled JD618.4 million, according to a JIC statement.

The JIC official noted that several international indicators show an improvement in the investment environment in the Kingdom, where Jordan ranked among the top 10 countries in implementing reforms worldwide according to the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Report.

The Kingdom was listed among the top three countries in the world in terms of ease of doing business, he said, noting that Jordan ranks 49th globally and fourth in the Arab world in the International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Ranking.

Hartouqa added that Jordanian expatriates play a major role in the economic and investment development by establishing various investment projects and attracting foreign investments in partnership with their peers from the countries where they reside.

The acting chairman also referred to the JIC’s promotion efforts and the first virtual investment conference that the commission will launch in July, noting that the JIC is cooperating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on a project to attract foreign investments and investments from Jordanian expatriates in the Gulf region.