Jordan advances in sovereign credit, economic indicators — report

AMMAN — Jordan secured an advanced ranking at the Arab level in sovereign credit rankings and indicators of political, economic and monetary risks indicators, the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation announced on Saturday.

According to the corporation’s 2021 Investment Climate Report, the Kingdom’s advancement was the result of improvement in the “Getting Credit” indicator by 134 points, “Paying Taxes” with 34 points, and “Resolving Insolvency” with 14 points. 

At the level of Getting Credit indicator, the report said that Jordan improved access to credit by introducing a new secured transactions law, amending the insolvency law and launching a unified, modern and notice-based collateral registry. 

The secured transactions law broadened the description of debts and obligations and the scope of assets usable as collateral. 

The amended insolvency law grants secured creditors absolute priority and provides "a time limit and clear grounds" for relief from automatic stays during reorganisation procedures. 

Jordan also improved access to credit information by providing credit scores to banks, financial institutions and borrowers.

As for the “Paying Taxes” indicator, Jordan made paying taxes easier by introducing electronic filing and payment for labour taxes and other mandatory contributions, according to the report.

The Kingdom made resolving insolvency easier by introducing a reorganisation procedure, allowing debtors to initiate the reorganisation procedure, and improving the continuation of businesses and the treatment of contracts during insolvency proceedings.

Jordan was classified in the first group that comprised nine countries with rankings being higher than the world average, where the report required the Kingdom to implement reforms in the Dealing with Construction Permits sub-indicator. The Kingdom ranked after Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Morocco.