Business

AMMAN — The total value of shares that were bought by non-Jordanian investors at the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) since the beginning of the year until the end of September was JD388.1 million, representing 23.9 per cent of the overall trading value, according to the ASE website.  

The shares sold by the same bracket amounted to JD268.2 million. Subsequently,  non-Jordanians’ net investments rose by JD119.9 million compared to a drop by JD4.4 million during the same period of 2015.

Arab investors’ purchases totalled JD344.4 million, or 88.7 per cent of the overall purchases by non-Jordanian investors, while the value of non-Arab investors’ purchases amounted to JD43.7 million, constituting 11.3 per cent of the total purchases. 

Arab investors’ sales amounted to JD228.9 million, representing 85.3 per cent of non-Jordanian investors total sales while the value of non-Arab investors’ sales amounted to JD39.3 million, representing 14.7 per cent of the total sales by non-Jordanian investors.

Moreover, the total value of shares that were bought by non-Jordanian investors at the ASE during September 2016 was JD15.7 million, representing 11.3 per cent of the overall trading value whereas the value of shares sold by them amounted to JD36.7 million. 

As a result, net non-Jordanian investments dropped during September 2016 by JD21 million, compared with a JD7.4 million drop during the same month of 2015, according to the ASE statement.

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew during the second quarter by 1.9 per cent, compared with the same period last year, according to the Department of Statistics.

The department said most sectors saw a positive growth, including the water and electricity sectors which recorded the highest growth, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.  

AMMAN — Jordan Industrial Estates Company (JIEC) Chief Executive Jalal Al Debei urged Iraq on Sunday to further benefit from Jordan’s experience in the field of developing, managing and marketing industrial estates through a partnership agreement.

At a meeting with Intisar Jaafar, the commercial attaché at the Iraqi embassy in Amman, Debei described Iraq as a strategic partner for the economic, commercial and industrial development process in Jordan.

He underscored the importance of the Iraqi investments at the JIEC and their contribution to the economy.  Jaafar pledged further economic cooperation between the two countries, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) and the Amman Chamber of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Saturday on  an “Entrepreneurship House” project, seeking to support IT Jordanian entrepreneurs.

Under the MoU signed by Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji and Amman Chamber of Commerce President Senator Issa Murad, GAM will issue vocational licences to companies or business entities registered under the names of young entrepreneurs who will be trained at the chamber’s Entrepreneurship House, the Jordan New Agency, Petra, reported.

For his part, Murad thanked GAM for supporting the project and its assistance to the private sector, through supporting economic activities that are vital for the country. 

AMMAN — Jordanian and Turkish businessmen operating in the Kingdom last week launched the Jordanian-Turkish Business Forum. The step seeks to stimulate and develop economic, industrial and commercial ties between both sides.  Stressing its importance, Samir Khouri, who heads the forum, thanked Turkey’s Ambassador to Jordan Sedat Önal for his support of the forum and its establishment.

Economic developments and the competitive investment environment in Jordan contributed to boosting the economic exchange between Amman and Ankara, he added. Önal called on all stakeholders to develop the forum’s work as it will serve both countries’ businesspeople, through holding meetings that can acquaint them with investments available in both countries, according to a statement of the forum. 

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter shares dove in after-hours trades on Wednesday on the heels of a report that Google does not plan to bid for the culture-changing but unprofitable one-to-many messaging service.

The technology news website Recode cited unnamed sources close to the situation as saying Google will not be among those in the running to buy San Francisco-based Twitter.

Other sources said that Twitter should have “low expectations” of Apple being among those vying to buy the company, Recode reported.

Twitter shares, which had taken flight on the New York Stock Exchange early in the day and ended formal trading up nearly 6 per cent, dove more than 9 per cent in after-market trades to $22.58.

Long-simmering speculation that Twitter is putting itself up for sale has boiled over in recent weeks, with the share price buoyed by unconfirmed talk that business-cloud software titan Salesforce, Google and other Silicon Valley titans were expected to be suitors.

Twitter and Google did not respond to AFP requests for comment.

Twitter, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, has yet to make a profit. Co-founder Jack Dorsey returned as chief executive last year but has yet to ignite growth, with the number of users stagnating at slightly more than 300 million for several quarters.

After falling to its lowest point ever earlier this year, Twitter shares were boosted recently on hopes the company will gain traction or a make a promising match with a suitor.

Twitter was expected to begin accepting bids this week.

The social messaging platform would be a big-ticket item, with its value based on the share price topping $17 billion on Wednesday, and the company likely to want a premium to be paid.

No suitors have declared interest in Twitter publicly, however.

The list of companies that may still seek to buy Twitter includes entertainment giant Disney, Microsoft, and the US telecom service Verizon.

WASHINGTON — Globalisation has largely benefited the world, but must be “different” in the future, with world governments working more to prevent persistent inequality, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.

“We know that globalisation has worked over the years that it has delivered great benefits to many people,” Lagarde, the IMF managing director, told reporters on Thursday at the opening of joint annual meetings with the World Bank.

“We don’t think it’s time to push against it,” said Lagarde, pointing specifically to the rising debate over free trade. 

“It needs to be slightly different, it cannot be that push for trade as we have seen it historically.”

Both the IMF and the World Bank, longtime supporters of free trade, face a political climate in which trade liberalisation is increasingly unpopular.

The failure to support displaced workers and others affected by globalisation has encouraged protectionist sentiment in the developed world, according to the IMF.

Voters in Britain this year voted to secede from the European Union and both US presidential nominees have said they oppose the White House’s signature Pacific Rim trade pact.

Lagarde called on member states to make the forces of economic globalistion “work for all and to pay attention to those that are at risk of being left out, whether it is as result of technology digital economy or international trade”.

Also addressing reporters on Thursday, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim likewise acknowledged the need for inclusive economic development.

“Our research shows that inequality is still far too high, both globally and within countries, constraining growth and breeding instability,” he said. 

“We need to focus on growth and continue to reduce inequality — and we have to make growth more equitable, and more sustainable.”

KUWAIT CITY — The Kuwaiti government agreed to compensate citizens for hiking petrol prices in a plan to “partially liberalise” the fuel subsidy, parliament speaker Marzouk Al Ghanem said on Wednesday.

Those holding driver’s licences would be compensated with a quantity of “free petrol” each month, Ghanem told reporters after a three-hour meeting between the government and a number of lawmakers.

Ghanem said the amount of free petrol that would be given was about 75 litres (20 gallons) a month per citizen.

The cost of petrol would be revised on a monthly basis, depending on the price of oil on international markets, he said, adding this represented a “partial liberalisation” of subsidies.

Kuwait fully liberalised the prices of diesel and kerosene at the start of 2015.

Foreigners, who make up almost 70 per cent of the oil-rich Gulf state’s 4.3 million population, still pay the full price.

The hike, ranging from about 40 to 80 per cent depending on the type of fuel, went into effect on September 1 as part of reform measures to plug a budget deficit resulting from low oil prices.

It was the first such increase since 1998.

But a number of MPs who attended the meeting rejected the deal as insufficient.

“This is not acceptable to us. We can not agree to a deal that harms Kuwaiti citizens’ income,” said MP Saad Al Khanfour.

“I plan to question ministers over this issue,” he told reporters.

MP Majed Musa said he and a group of lawmakers were working on a certain move against the government. He did not elaborate.

“Kuwaiti citizens are not beggars. Any measure that negatively affects citizens’ income is rejected,” Musa said.

The OPEC member recorded a budget shortfall of 4.6 billion dinars ($15.3 billion) in the fiscal year which ended on March 31, according to official figures.

It was the first shortfall since the fiscal year to March 1999.

Kuwait’s lower court last week ruled that the increase of petrol prices was unlawful because of procedural flaws.

The government has challenged the ruling before the appeals court defending its procedures.