The Banking Executive Magazine - March 2024 Issue

Central Bank of Jordan Central Bank of Jordan MAINTAINS INTEREST RATES AMID POSITIVE ECONOMIC INDICATORS The Open Market Operations Com- mittee of the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) decided to maintain interest rates on monetary policy instruments unchanged. This decision is a result of the bank’s commitment to closely monitor the national economy’s developments, particularly monetary and banking indicators, as reported by the Jordan News Agency, Petra. The CBJ added that this decision aligns with a comprehensive review of geopolitical global and regional economic dynamics. The committee stressed its confidence in the national economy's performance as shown by the latest economic data, highlight- ing that the CBJ's foreign reserves have reached $18.2 billion, which is sufficient to cover the Kingdom's im- ports of goods and services for 7.9 months. The committee also emphasised the year-on-year increase in bank de- posits by JD2 billion as of the end of January, marking a growth of 4.6 per cent to reach JD44 billion. Addition- ally, the credit facilities granted by banks (year-on-year) also increased by JD727.4 million, with a growth rate of 2.5 per cent. During the meeting, the committee underscored the role of balanced economic policies implemented by the CBJ and the government in man- aging inflationary pressures in the Kingdom. In 2023, the inflation rate stood at 2.1 per cent, a decrease from 4.2 per cent in 2022. The infla- tion rate continued to decline in the first two months of 2024, reaching 1.8 per cent. The CBJ projected that the national economy would achieve a real GDP growth rate of at least 2.6 per cent in 2023, a 0.2 percentage point in- crease from the previous year’s level. Preliminary data also indicated a sig- nificant decline in the current ac- count deficit in the balance of payments to around 3.7 per cent of GDP in 2023, down from 7.8 per cent in 2022. This shift is attributed to an 11 per cent narrowing trade deficit and a 62.8 per cent increase in the surplus of the services ac- count, fueled by a 27.4 per cent rise in tourism revenues in 2023. ISSUE 183 MARCH 2024 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 35