Jordan Times
Monday, January 17, 2004
Investments surge by 56% to
JD731 million in 2004
AMMAN (Petra) — Investments surged by 56 per cent reaching JD731 million last
year compared to JD480 million in 2003, a senior official said Sunday.
According to Jordan Investment Board (JIB) Chief
Executive Officer Reem Badran, the one stop-shop Investment Window prompted
Jordanian, Arab and foreign investors to set up businesses in the Kingdom.
The Investment Window, that was established by the government last year at the
JIB, helped bring up the number of projects in the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs)
by 29 per cent to 101 companies in 2004 compared to 72 firms in 2003, she
indicated.
The increase in the QIZ projects last year created 3,163 additional jobs,
bringing up the total number of workers to 22,000, a 33 per cent rise over the
previous year.
QIZ exports rose by 16 per cent reaching JD652 million last year compared to
JD563 million in 2003, reflecting investors' confidence in Jordan's approach to
facilitate investment, stated Badran.
In 2004, Jordan boosted the growth rate in spite of the tough regional
conditions, Badran remarked.
The Investment Promotion Law and other related legislation brought up the number
of investment projects in the Kingdom with around JD26 million worth of
industrial projects benefiting from them.
Industrial projects, in general, accounted for the largest portion of the total
investment volume, followed by the agricultural sector which received JD27
million in investment capital, Badran pointed out.
Some 75 per cent of the overall investments were local projects while
investments by non-local Arab investors followed at 6.6 per cent. Americans and
Canadians came at three per cent whereas the Europeans trailed at 1.5 per cent,
she added.