JCI launches 1st Jordanian Industry Index

AMMAN — The Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) on Tuesday launched the first-of-its-kind “Jordanian Industry Index”, intended to periodically evaluate the performance of the industrial sector and sub-sectors with a systematic approach. 

The index aims to assess the level of progress and periodically monitor the performance of Jordan’s industrial sector in order to chart production for the coming years and cope with global developments, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

JCI President Fathi Jaghbir said that the launch of the index is result of the chamber’s efforts to procure “the real picture” of Jordanian industry with a general indicator that is capable of measuring and evaluating the actual performance of the sector.

The indicator allows for the conduction of a quarterly and annual comparison of performance, and also tracks progress and decline within different indicators at the level of the 10 sub-sectors of the industrial sector, Jaghbir noted.

The Jordanian industry index has yielded positive results, showing an improvement in overall industrial performance, the JCI president said, adding that the third quarter of 2022 recorded a rise of 16.1 per cent in industrial performance compared with the same period in 2021.

The cost of production, particularly energy, remains the industry’s most significant challenge to growth, which is reflect in job provision and the industry’s ability to increase and diversify its export base in non-traditional products and markets, he said.

Jaghbir stressed the need to accelerate the delivery of natural gas to industrial complexes throughout the Kingdom, noting that such a step would reduce the cost of production by up to 60 per cent, in turn enhancing the competitiveness of industrial products in domestic and foreign markets.