AMMAN — According to the 10th round of the
survey “Investor Confidence in Jordan”, conducted by the Jordan Strategic
Forum, the percentage of investors who believe that the volume of their
companies’ economic dealings will be better next year increased by 10
percentage points, to reach 54 percent, Ammon News reported. The forum expects
this figure to increase in the upcoming years, especially since the percentage
of investors who believe that the economic volume of their companies will be
worse has decreased from 30.5 percent to 23.4 percent.
اضافة اعلان
The survey was carried out between August and
September 2022, in cooperation with
NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions and
Kinz Company.
The survey results also show a significant
improvement in the percentage of investors who believe that things are going in
the right direction, as it rose by approximately 6 points from about 17.8
percent in the previous survey to 23.4 percent in the current survey; 28.2
percent of investors attributed this to economic reforms and the improvement of
the investment and trade environment, about 16.2 percent pointed to security,
safety, and stability, while 11.1 percent said that things are going in the
right direction due to better government decisions and procedures.
The forum asked investors in Jordan about the
magnitude of their companies’ economic handling in the current year compared to
the previous one, as the results of the survey reflected a gradual improvement
in economic performance compared to recent surveys, with some 33.6 percent of
investors indicating that the volume of economic handling was better this year
than last year, in comparison to the previous round when it was 24.3 percent.
The forum asked investors about the most significant
constraints limiting the expansion of their business activities, in order to
give the government a better view of the policies it can adopt to help
investors expand their business; 34.2 percent of respondents indicated that
high taxes are one of the most prominent obstacles, 26.8 percent pointed to the
high cost of production inputs, 22 percent said that unstable legislation is a
reason, and 9.2 percent said it is the high interest rate.
As for the investment environment in Jordan and its
attractiveness to investment, the results showed that the percentage of
investors who believe that the investment environment is encouraging rose from
27.1 percent in the last survey to 32.6 percent now, while the percentage of
investors who see that the investment environment is not encouraging has
decreased to 64 percent in the current survey compared to 68.4 percent in the
January 2022 survey.
Regarding the reasons investors described the investment
environment in Jordan as discouraging, more than 31 percent of those surveyed
attributed this to poor economic conditions, low liquidity and demand for goods
and services, 26.6 percent to high prices, taxes and fees, and about 11 percent
said the reason is lack of sufficient investment incentives.
The percentage of investors who indicated a
significant reduction in their business fell by 14 percentage points, while the
highest percentage of investors, 46.4 percent, said their businesses stayed as
they were.
To evaluate the economic measures taken by the
government to reduce costs for investors, the results showed that reducing the
electric tariff had a positive impact on 16.4 percent of investors; 15 percent
said it was reducing social security contributions for new members, from among
the youth, and 12.4 percent said unifying customs duties helped them.
To analyze the investment environment more clearly
and comprehensively, Investors were asked about their views on some of the
measures taken by the government in order to attract more investment; 56.8
percent indicated the importance of establishing a Ministry of Investment, and
about 67 percent said it is important to prepare a draft law regulating the
investment environment in Jordan.
With regard to the transfer of the public-private
partnership unit from the Prime Ministry to the
Ministry of Investment, about
58.2 percent of investors indicated, to varying degrees, the importance of this
measure in enhancing the value of investments between the public and private
sectors; 36 percent of respondents are not satisfied at all with strengthening
the partnership between the public and private sectors.
In the context of government measures, the Jordanian
Strategy Forum asked investors about their views on canceling Defense Order No.
6, which protects workers from being laid off. Remarkably, 85.7 percent of
investors in large companies supported canceling Defense Order No. 6, while
almost half of the investors in small and medium-sized companies, indicated the
need to keep it.
Large companies employ the vast majority of workers in
Jordan, approximately 79 percent, according to the latest report of the Social
Security Corporation.
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