Jordanian investments soar by 64 percent in 4 months

Jordan Investment Board Building The volume of investments benefiting from investment laws in Jordan has exceeded half a billion dollars, during the first four months of this year compared with the same period of 2011. According to a Jordan Investment Board (JIB) report released Tuesday, total investments reached $600 billion of which local investments that drew on incentives provided under investment laws, stood at $385, or 64 percent of the total.
Foreign investments amounted to $217 million.
The report showed that industries accounted for the majority of investments, $382 million, followed by hospitals, $97 million, and tourism, $74 million.
During the same period of last year, investments benefiting from the law amounted to $360 million, $290 million of which were generated by local schemes, according to the report, which showed that most of investments were held in industries, hotels, amusement parks, tourism and agriculture.
JIB director general, Adnan Shdeifat underlined the importance of investment quality in terms of job opportunities and added value.
Shdeifat said:"They will create nearly 6,400 jobs once their implementation is completed", noting that the investment performance of the Kingdom has been "positively" impacted by the Arab Spring, European debt crisis and the global economic downturn.
The JIB director general added: "The stability and security Jordan enjoys has enhanced the investment inflow in order to benefit from incentives offered by investment laws".
He noted that the number of investments also increased during the first four months of this year, reaching 144 projects compared with 88 held during the same months of 2011.