Improved ‘getting credit’ ranking ‘will positively impact Jordan’s economy’ — economist

AMMAN — Jordan ranked fourth in the “getting credit” indicator of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) 2020 Doing Business (DB) report, jumping 130 ranks from 2019’s report.

According to the report, the Kingdom was among the economies that demonstrated “notable improvements” in the DB 2020 after executing regulatory reforms in getting credit, paying taxes and resolving insolvency.

The WBG determined countries’ scores on the “getting credit” indicator by assessing the strength of legal rights and the depth of credit information in each country.

Getting credit allows businessmen to fund and implement their projects, Jordanian economist Husam Ayesh told The Jordan Times over the phone, highlighting that Jordan’s ranking in the report “will positively impact the Jordanian economy”.

To give credit, lenders take into consideration the creditworthiness of a customer, credit guarantees, the project’s feasibility study, the ability to pay off the loan and the project’s competitiveness regarding other criteria, Ayesh said.

In the case of insolvency, the reorganisation procedure in the Kingdom preserves the rights of loaners and encourages the continuity of projects and enterprises, he added.

The ability to get credit is one of the challenges hindering economic activity and projects in many countries, especially in the case of novel enterprises, Ayesh said, noting that new, entrepreneurial and small projects receive access to only around 9 per cent of opportunities to get credit in the Arab world.

In Jordan, banks provide more than three-quarters of their deposits as loans for individuals, companies and institutions, he said, adding that 38 per cent of the loans are provided to individuals to fulfil personal requirements.