Has Jordan Got Reasons To Be Happy?
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Roshan Amiri
- . October 3, 2022
- . Update: October 4, 2022 2:07 pm
Jordan is majorly into business focus as Gulf officials and business executives have made up their minds to make investments in the cash strapped country.
With unemployment stuck on 20-23percent, the Jordanian government has been trying to get its economy running to low levels of luck. The new mantra is investment in Jordan. “Our leadership has told us to concentrate on investing in Jordan,” Hamdan Al Samreen, head of the Saudi-Jordanian Chamber of Commerce told a business forum in Amman.
It is worth noting how Amman and Gulf Co-operation Council members like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have not been in good terms with Jordon. The result has been that the coronavirus pandemic also affected the investment environment in Jordan.
Saudi Arabia has been one of the largest investors and donors for Jordon which also is the only Arab country to share a boundary with it. Its differences with Jordon have come over the movement of narcotics through Syria and use of the bordering countries to smuggle Captagon.
Read | Jordan Gets Another Hefty Aid Package From Saudi Arabia
But in June, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met King Abdullah II of Jordan in Amman. The visit coincided with the Saudi Public Investment Fund reactivating a $400 million hospital and university project in Jordan. It was their first meeting since March 2021.
Differences between Jordan and Qatar, which were complicated by the rift between Qatar and other Gulf states, have also eased in the past two years.
Sheikh Khalifah bin Jassem Al Thani, head of the Qatar Chamber of commerce, said Gulf states are “always ready” to help to improve the Jordanian economy.
Foreign investment in Jordan was $726 million in 2021, up form $719m the previous year, but well below a 2006 peak of $3.6 billion, according to UN data.
