Ammon News - AMMAN - Credit facilities extended by local banks to individuals in the first five months of the current year plunged by 8.2 percent to JD277.9 million, official figures showed.

The data by the Central Bank of Jordan revealed that the total outstanding balance of credit facilities at the end of May reached JD13.65 billion, up by 2.5 percent compared with the figure at the end of 2009.

The report attributed the increase in the credit facilities balance to a 19.4 percent upsurge in facilities extended to the construction sector and a 4.1 percent increase in facilities provided to the industrial sector.

The report didn't elaborate on other economic sectors.

*Petra