Jordan Investor Confidence Index slips in July

AMMAN — The Jordan Investor Confidence Index dropped in July by 1.38 points, to 91.20 from 92.58 points in June this year. 

The Jordan Investor Confidence Index is a monthly-issued index, published by the Jordan Strategy Forum. It seeks to measure the confidence of investors operating in the Jordanian market through three aspects: confidence in the Jordanian currency along with the monetary system, in the real economy, and in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE).

Two of the three sub-indices witnessed declines in July 2016, according to a forum statement. 

Confidence in the monetary system sub-index dropped by 0.74 points from 91.94 points in June to 91.2 in July. This change resulted from a slight decrease in the Central Bank of Jordan’s foreign reserves, which reached JD11,955 million in July, the statement revealed. 

The sub-index of confidence in the ASE dropped by 0.81 points in July, settling at 97.16 points in comparison with 97.97 points in June. 

As for confidence in the real economy sub-index, it rose by 0.18 points in July 2016, reaching 102.85 points compared with 102.67 points in the previous month. 

Although the capital of registered companies decreased to JD5 million from JD8.4 million in June, all other indicators within this pillar increased. 

The number of companies registered went up to 442 companies in July from 404 companies in June. 

The private sector credit to total deposits’ ratio has also witnessed a slight increase. Furthermore, construction activity improved slightly, as the number of construction permits as well as the total tax collected on real estate increased. 

Moreover, the manufacturing quantity production index increased by 1.7 points to reach 164.9 points in July. This rise was attributed to an increase in the production index of the mining and quarrying sector, as well as the electricity, gas, steam, and air conditions supply sector, according to the forum’s statement.