Category: Business & Finance

Amman: A total of 165 public shareholding companies disclosed their 2022 preliminary business results to Jordan Securities Commission (JSC) during the specified legal period, accounting for 97% of all stock market-listed firms.

Meanwhile, 30 non-listed companies provided their 2022 buisness report to JSC, according to a commission’s statement on Wednesday.

The JSC affirmed its keenness to ensure companies’ compliance with securities law and disclosure instructions on submitting periodic reports, the statement added.

Disclosure aims to keep all shareholders informed with “full transparency and fairness” on these companies’ operations, as JSC applies Article 21 of Securities Law, which entitles the commission to take legal measures against violators, primarily the power to issue violation notices and impose financial fines, the statement said.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The head and members of the Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA) Saturday discussed with Sweden’s Ambassador Alexandra Rydmark prospects for forging closer economic, trade and investment relations between the business communities in both countries.

JBA President Hamdi Tabbaa briefed the envoy on efforts to promote key investment opportunities in promising economic sectors in Jordan, stressing its keen interest in promoting Jordan’s foreign relations, and noting the establishment of a Jordanian-Swedish business council on the sidelines of the King of Sweden’s visit to Jordan in November.

Tabbaa spoke of the importance of work programs to follow up on the outcome of the royal visit to raise the volume of trade between the two sides, which is still “modest”, and promote joint investments.

For her part, Rydmark emphasized the need for executive work programs, particularly after the establishment of a joint business council, urging the two sides to arrange mutual visits in the middle of the year, especially the pharmaceutical and medical care industries and communications and information technology sector.

She agreed that the volume of bilateral trade is still modest and needs more work as Jordan does not import directly from Sweden, but through regional countries, noting that the Swedish side lacked information about Jordan, urging networking between the business communities.

Marcus Petersson, Swedish Trade Commissioner for Business, referred to the “successful” visit of the Swedish Monarch, pointing out that Jordanian companies importing from Sweden have remarkably increased, which is a “positive indicator”.

The volume of trade between the two countries in 2021 was about $82.3 million, of which $6.3 million in Jordanian exports, mainly vegetables, foodstuffs and chemicals, while imports from Sweden were at $76 million, mostly pharmaceuticals, machinery and wood products.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Jordan Free and Development Zones Group (JFDZ) investments are estimated at a value of JD2.280 billion by the end of 2022, while volume of its export-import trade amounted to about JD4.5 billion.

According to the group’s data obtained by “Petra,” JFDZ trade movement show that exports amounted to JD2, 230 billion, while imports amounted to JD2, 260 billion.

A total of 3, 000 people invest in JFDZ businesses working in the trade sectors, and industry and services, employing about 29,000 workers, while its total investment contracts stand at 2,830, the figures revealed.

Meanwhile, revenues generated as customs and vehicle licensing fees in 2022 were estimated at about JD400 million, data indicated.

Based on axes of the group’s strategy 2022-2024 and its action programs, a number of developments were made in various levels, in terms of improving infrastructure services and launching “vital” projects in the free estates.

In this regard, a water desalination plant was established in Zarqa Free Zone (ZFZ), as well as a rainwater drainage channel, a solar energy project for buildings, development of a safe retail system. In addition, new 16 warehouses were launched within Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) free zone, 175 square meters each to meet the increasing investors’ demand.

In terms of information technology aspect, a number of e-services were launched to help investors process transactions remotely with “high quality and accuracy” and measures were taken to enhance security and property safety system at free zones, as work in an advanced video surveillance system was launched, at a cost of about JD850,000.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Prices of 21-karat gold, the highest demand at local market, stood at JD37.5 per gramme, as purchasing price, against JD35.90 as selling price, an official said Thursday.

Jordan Jewelers Association’s Secretary General, Ribhy Allan, told Jordan News Agency (Petra) that the price of 24-karat and 18-karat gold amounted to JD44 and JD33.5 respectively.

He added that gold prices in global markets on Thursday afternoon reached $1,836 per ounce.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The market cap of Arab stock exchanges amounted to more than $4.5 trillion by the end of last week, the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) said Thursday.

The AMF’s Arab financial markets weekly bulletin said that the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) topped Arab stock exchanges last week, with an increase in its market value by about $3.5 billion, reaching $163.6 billion, according to the Bahrain News Agency.

It added that the Amman Stock Exchange achieved market gains of about $785.1 million, the Bahrain Stock Exchange $251.4 million, the Kuwait Stock Exchange $202.2 million, the Muscat Stock Exchange $104.5 million, and the Palestine Stock Exchange $26.6 million, the Damascus Stock Exchange reached $18.5 million, the Beirut Stock Exchange $7.6 million, and the market value of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) reached $2.648 trillion, while the market value of the Qatar Stock Exchange reached $161.5 billion.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Pharmaceutical Industry and Medical Devices Representative at the Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) Fadi Alatrash on Thursday discussed with advisers at Kazakhstan’s embassy means for increasing economic cooperation between Jordan and the central Asian nation.

According to a JCI statement, Alatrash stressed the importance of Kazakhstan as Jordan’s primary entry point into Central Asian nations, opening up new markets for Jordanian goods.

He said that international trade shows held in Kazakhstan are a key venue for showcasing Jordanian products, particularly those from the pharmaceutical sector.

The advisers called for increasing trade between Jordan and Kazakhstan and capitalizing on the Jordan’s diverse product offering.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: The Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Thursday inked a 79.46-million-euro agreement to build a plant for the treatment and recycling of tankered wastewater in the eastern region of Ghabawi.

The project is co-financed by a 41.3-million-euro loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and a 30-million-euro grant from the European Union.

The facility will be designed and built by the Arab Towers Contracting Company (ATCCO) while CDM Smith Europe will serve as the project’s technical supervisor for $1.24 million provided under a grant from the EBRD.

The plant will have a daily treatment capacity of 24,750 cubic meters and will be fed by wastewater tankers which will no longer offload at the Ain Ghazal treatment plant in Amman.

By reducing traffic and odors in the Ain Ghazal area, the project is expected to improve the region’s environmental conditions and lessen the “biological load” on the Khirbet As-Samra wastewater treatment facility, according to a ministry statement.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Royal Jordanian (RJ) airlines’ revenues increased by 71 percent in 2022, reaching JD611.8 million compared with JD357 million in 2021.

According to an RJ statement on Thursday, the revenue growth was propelled by a 91 percent year-over-year increase in passenger volume, which amounted to 3 million in 20222 compared to 1.6 million in 2021.

The passenger occupancy rate increased to 77 percent last year from 68 percent in 2021, according to the company’s preliminary financial data for 2022, indicating an improvement in its operational performance indicators.

The number of flight hours and takeoffs increased by 60 percent, according to the data which also showed that the number of stations increased from 32 in 2021 to 48 in 2022 as a result of the reopening of stations that had been shut down during the Coronavirus pandemic and the addition of new stations.

According to the company, its net loss in 2022 was JD79.1 million, up from a loss of JD74.3 million in 2021. This was due, in large part, to a 69 percent increase in fuel prices in 2022, which resulted in an oil bill increase of JD97.8 million. In 2022, fuel costs made up 50 percent of variable operating costs, up from 37 percent in 2021.

Vice Chairman and CEO of the company Samer Majali expressed confidence that Royal Jordanian would continue to attract more customers and increase its market share as a result of the airline’s recent service upgrades, network adaptability, new station openings, and increased flight frequency to a variety of destinations.

Majali said the company is moving forward with its plans to upgrade its fleet for short, medium, and long-haul routes and that new aircraft will be introduced by the end of the year.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Minister of Investment, Kholoud Saqqaf, called on increasing Saudi investments in Jordan, especially since the Kingdom has multiple diversified investor opportunities in several economic sectors.

Receiving head and members of the Saudi-Jordanian Parliamentary Brotherhood Committee in the Saudi Shura Council (SSC) on Thursday, Saqqaf Saudi investments in the Kingdom have a “major” role in Jordan’s economic development and are among the “key” investments that contribute to Jordan’s development process and provide job opportunities for Jordanian youth.

To keep pace with developments in business environment and increase competitiveness in attracting investments, Saqqaf noted Jordan’s Investment Environment Law was endorsed and its bylaw features the best international practices, which offers multiple priviliges.

In this regard, Saqqaf noted the law treats Jordanian and non-Jordanian investors alike, defines principles of Jordan’s investment policy and elaborates investors’ rights and privileges, as well as key incentives and exemptions granted to investment projects.

The minister also noted the government’s keenness to stimulate flow of local, Arab and foreign investments and efforts to attract additional Saudi investments during the coming period, to take advantage of the “promising” development opportunities in various sectors and develop existing projects in Jordan.

During the meeting, the delegation was briefed on the key targeted investment sectors in Jordan, primarily high-value industries, information and communication technologies (ICT) health care, tourism, water, energy, mining, agriculture, education and logistics, in addition to the important partnership projects between the public and private sectors.

For his part, Head of the Saudi-Jordanian Parliamentary Brotherhood Committee, Ibrahim Qannas, lauded level of Jordanian-Saudi economic relations and the steps taken by Jordan’s government to improve investment environment, which would reflect “positively” on attracting more investments.

Qannas said Saudi capital views Jordan as an “important” investment destination in the region, given the two countries’ close relations and Jordan’s comparative and competitive privilges in the business environment.

He also referred to Saudi Arabia’s interest to increase volume of its investments in Jordan in multiple sectors.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Acting President of Constitutional Court of Jordan (CCJ), Mohammad Mahadin, on Thursday received a Libyan delegation headed by Counselor Mohammad Abd al-Salam Mohammad, as part of his visit to the Kingdom to review its judicial and legislative experience.

Speaking at the meeting, Mahadin lauded the “deep-rooted” Jordanian- Libyan relations, affirming CCJ’s readiness to cooperate with Libyan authorities and exchange expertise.

Meanwhile, CCJ’s members gave a presentation on the court’s jurisdiction after its establishment in 2012.

The judges said CCJ’s jurisdiction covers constitutionality of Jordan’s laws and regulations in force and interpretation of the Constitution’s provisions and its role in protecting and upholding it, according to a court’s statement.

The two sides also discussed mechanism of access to the court in accordance with Jordan’s recently-endorsed constitutional amendments, the statement said.

Source: Jordan News Agency