Good news for Jordanians

The decision of local banks to postpone loan payments for individuals for April, which coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, as announced by the Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ) last week, holds good news for hundreds of thousands of Jordanians.اضافة اعلان

According to ABJ Director-General Maher Mahrooq, the gesture is part of the banks’ social responsibility, and a bid to ease the financial burdens of Jordanians at this time of the year, which inherently carries more social responsibilities, and for Eid Al-Fitr.


Central Bank of Jordan. (File photo: Ameer Khalifeh/Jordan News)

The decision, which is binding on all banks in Jordan, states that postponing payment of individual installments, including housing and personal loans, is not accompanied by commissions or delay interests.

According to some sources, the liquidity that would be spared by this decision will amount to hundreds of millions (not less than JD300 million), which will be injected and breathe some life into the market at a time when not only Jordan’s economy, but that of the entire world is struggling with the ramifications of COVID-19 and, now, with the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has already had a disastrous impact on the prices of many essential commodities.

Thanks to the Central Bank of Jordan’s (CBJ) financial inclusion plan, by 2020, more Jordanians had access to the financial system, meaning they could obtain loans and, following the latest decision, benefit from the postponement of loan payments.

The hundreds of millions of dinars that will be funneled into the market are likely to save, or at least give a break to, businesses that have been hit hard by the series of economic disasters, caused by more than two years of pandemic.

Having said that, the banking sector has been the biggest survivor, due to the prudent monetary and financial policies strictly applied and overseen by CBJ; it has served as a safety cushion for the national economy and, as a result, for Jordanians.

The sector supported the Himmat Watan Fund, set up to receive donations to address the repercussions of COVID-19, with tens of millions, which went to help the underprivileged in society, especially the beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund.

The CBJ’s decision apparently encouraged other financers to follow suit. Director of Public Security Maj. Gen. Hussein Al-Hawatmeh took the decision to delay payment of installments of advances loaned to members of the force for March and April. A similar step was announced by Yarmouk University, whose faculty and administrative cadres will have more cash on their hands in these two months to spend on their needs. More similar steps are expected.

One wonders if it would have been possible for financing establishments to delay payment of some dues owed by the commercial sector, but that depends on the banks themselves and the way they work out the balance between their sense of responsibility toward the community they operate in and their commercial interests. After all, we want the banking sector to remain strong and solid, as it is our fortress during hard times.

A final note: alleviating hardships for citizens is the responsibility of the government, through effective policies and sound planning. Relying on banks to do the job sometimes should never become the norm.

The writer is a former advisor at the Royal Hashemite Court, a former director of media and communication at the Office of His Majesty King Abdullah, and works currently as a senior advisor for business development at Al-Ghad and Jordan News.

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