Jordan Times
Monday, August 29, 2005
Investments in 8 months
exceed projection for the whole of 2005
At JD231.5 million, foreign investments accounted for 43 per cent
of the total
By Mahmoud Al Yahya
Amman — Investments during the first eight months of this year surged beyond the
JD500 million projected for the whole of 2005, a senior official said Sunday.
According to Jordan Investment Board (JIB) CEO Maan Nsour, total investments
topped JD532 million during the January-August period of this year compared to
JD248.1 million during the same time in 2004
At JD231.5 million, foreign investments accounted for 43 per cent of the total,
eclipsing the JD49.9 million registered at the end of August 2004.
“JD87.4 million of foreign investments went into industrial ventures and only
JD2.7 million into agriculture,” Nsour remarked.
The JIB chief cited “economic reasons” for the government's decision to stop the
citizenship-investment link.
“Jordan is now an attractive investment place and there is no need any more to
tempt Arab nationals to invest in Jordan through offering them the Jordanian
citizenship,” said Nsour.
Arab nationals were previously given the Jordanian citizenship if they invested
more than JD750,000 and created 20 employment opportunities.
According to Nsour, JIB will continue to sponsor investment promotion bureaux
outside Jordan to help increase investments in the country.
“Opening investment channels with countries like Kuwait, Saudi, Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates will be one of our priorities,” he stressed.
Nsour highlighted the One Stop Shop (OSS) service which started on May 16, 2005,
crediting it for cutting down the time period needed to register and licence an
investment project from 98 to 14 days.
However, Nsour acknowledged that there is still more work needed to resolve
complaints that are directed at the administrative procedures of customs, sales
tax and labour permits.
“The limited authority of some OSS workers, who are representatives of different
ministries, is an obstacle that needs to be eliminated to ensure a more
efficient performance by the JIB,” said Nsour.
In complementing foreign investments, local capital amounted to JD300.8 million
during the first eight months of this year, 51 per cent more than the 198.2
million registered during the corresponding period in 2004.
The industry sector attracted JD178.8 million of total domestic investments
while JD71.4 million went for transporting and distributing water, gas and oil.
Convention and exhibition centres attracted JD 20.6 million compared to JD 6.45
million for agriculture.