Jordan’s trade balance deficit with GAFTA up 70.9% in Q1 of 2022 — DoS

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s trade balance deficit with Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) countries increased by 70.9 per cent to some JD718 million in the first quarter of 2022, compared with JD420 million in the same period last year, the Department of Statistics (DoS) announced on Saturday.

According to the DoS foreign trade data, the value of national exports to GAFTA countries rose in the first three months of 2022 by 33.5 per cent to reach some JD597 million, compared with the same period last year, which amounted to JD447 million, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The value of Jordan's imports from GAFTA nations increased "significantly" during the first quarter of 2022 by 51.7 per cent to around JD1.315 billion, compared to the same period last year, which amounted to nearly JD867 million, the DoS figures showed.

According to the DoS report, Saudi Arabia topped the list of Jordanian exports to GAFTA countries in the first quarter of 2022, accounting for JD181 million.

Saudi Arabia was also the top exporter to Jordan, exporting a value that reached around JD636 million. The trade balance deficit with the Arab Gulf nation amounted to about JD455 million in the first quarter of 2022. 

In his interview with Petra, Chairman of the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) Fathi Jaghbeer said that Jordan's imports from GAFTA countries witnessed a "clear" rise during the first three months of 2022, increasing by more than 52 per cent, or some JD430 million, compared with the same period of 2021.

Jaghbeer added that the “high” amount of Jordan's imports of fuel products and its derivatives was the main reason for this rise, which increased by about 50 per cent considering the Kingdom's reliance on oil deliveries from Arab countries, mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The increase in fuel imports comes in light of the "remarkable" rise in global oil prices during the first quarter of 2022, which have reached an average exceeding $120 per barrel, compared with the price average of $70 per barrel in the first quarter of 2021, he noted.

Jaghbeer pointed out that Saudi Arabia is the top Arab exporter to Jordan, with imports worth about JD636 million, mainly oil products and its derivatives, followed by the UAE with some JD310 million.

Jordan's imports from the UAE included gold, oil products and their derivatives, which saw "a record" increase during this period that is attributed to the rise in global oil and gold products' prices, the JCI chairman noted.

He said that Jordan's most heavily exported products to GAFTA countries included pharmaceuticals, foodstuff, livestock, vegetable products, fertilisers, iron, steel and raw phosphates.

He noted that the Kingdom's most heavily imported products from GAFTA countries included oil and its derivatives, natural gas, gold, foodstuff and agricultural products, plastic and other raw materials.