Jordan’s industrial sector, which enjoys the support of His Majesty King Abdullah II, has great potentials to push the national economy forward and generate job opportunities, head of the Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry, Fathi Al-Jaghbir said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the Jordan News Agency (Petra), Al-Jaghbir said that such potentials prompted the government to put the industrial sector among its economic priorities for the next two years, stressing the need of further cooperation with various official authorities to increase the share of Jordanian industry in the local market and cut its ballooning import bill.
The industrial sector holds high untapped potentials, he said, which require national support to bring it to higher levels in order it to internationally compete, indicating that industry is the main engine of economic growth and one of the main pivots of the comprehensive economic development.
“Emanating from the fact that the government’s priorities for 2022-2023 will be primarily centered around enhancing the Kingdom’s productivity, plans have been made to increase national exports of goods and services, boost food production, provide investment incentives, magnify the competitiveness of Jordanian industry locally and abroad, and build an industry development fund to support the growth of the sector,” he added.
Al-Jaghbir pointed out that the industrial sector recently demonstrated high capabilities to bail the national economy out of the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, through providing many basic commodities to the local market; mainly sterilizers, disinfectants, medicines, medical supplies and food products.
“With about JD17 billion production capacities, the industrial sector manages to produce more than 1,500 commodities from various industrial sub-sectors, which accounts for 45 percent of the local market’s total share of consumption,” he said, noting that it forges about 25 percent of contribution to the GDP, but the contribution may hit 40 percent when calculating the sector’s direct and indirect ties with other economic sectors.
As for the Kingdom’s trade balance, Al-Jaghbir explained that the industrial sector contributes about 93 percent of the total national exports, with an annual value of up to JD5 billion, exporting more than 1,400 commodities to 142 markets around the world. Also, the industry accounted for 80% of the foreign investments flowing into Jordan during the last decade, with a value of JD15 billion of investments that provide the Treasury a total of JD1.5 billion of fees and taxes.
Source: Jordan News Agency