The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) on 12 March, 2017 launched a set of economic initiatives to stimulate growth and job generation.
The initiatives included establishing investment companies for banks with a capital of JD125 million to invest in medium-sized enterprises, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
During a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Hani Mulki, the CBJ also launched a programme to support the national exports credit, to which JD100 million has been allocated.
CBJ Governor Ziad Fariz said the initiatives came as part of the banking system’s response to the recommendations of the Economic Policies Council (EPC), launched by His Majesty King Abdullah and later endorsed and adopted by the Cabinet.
One of the initiatives aims at supporting exports through a JD100 million loan from the CBJ to the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation to establish a fund, the returns from which would enable the company to guarantee Jordanian exports’ credit and, subsequently, boost the sector in destinations abroad, especially newly-opened markets.
The CBJ, meanwhile, has worked with the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry to establish a Jordanian fund for entrepreneurship at a cost of $100 million to be launched during the first half of 2017, with the funds invested in start-ups split 50-50 between the CBJ and the World Bank.
In support of start-ups, small and medium sized, the governor said, the CBJ would add another JD50 million to guarantee the loans of these companies when the current budget of JD50 million is used up.
The initiatives launched include establishing two banking investment companies in Jordan, the first is a “Trade Banks Company for Investment” with a capital of JD100 million and the second is the “Islamic Investment Company,” whose capital stands at JD25 million.
The two companies will be investing in medium-sized companies to trigger growth that reflects positively on their job-generation capacities.
The meeting was attended by several ministers and chairpersons and executive directors of various banks.
Representatives of the banking sector attending the meeting highlighted the importance of the initiatives in reducing poverty and unemployment, the performance of the banking sector in the past 10 years and the challenges facing the national economy.
