Ammon News - The Jordan Investor Confidence Index rose to 147.6 points in January this year from 144.6 points in December of 2020 as preliminary data reveal that the Kingdom's economy is showing signs of post-Covid recovery, according to the Jordan Strategy Forum’s (JSF) which compiles and releases the index and other sub-indices.

The total capital of companies registered in January was JD6.9 million compared with JD5.8 million in December last year, the JSF indicated, adding that the number of registered companies picked up from 363 in December of 2020 to 415 in January.

Moreover, confidence in the monetary system increased by 9 points, to 191.3 points in January 2021, compared to 182.2 points in December 2020, while the value of the foreign currency reserves of the Central Bank decreased from JD13.2 billion in December 2020 to JD13.1 billion in December.

The difference in the interest rate between the dinar and the dollar has remained constant at 2.41 percent since December 2020, and the value of bounced checks decreased from JD130.2 million in December 2020, to JD105.3 million in January.

The data also show that confidence in the financial system rose from 107.1 points in January 2020, to 129.8 for the same month of the current year.

The Amman Stock Exchange index saw an increase of 118.47 points in January 2020 while the percentage of the value of shares purchased by foreign investors increased, reaching 98 percent in January 2021, compared with 85 percent in December 2020.

However, the statistics reveal that confidence in economic activity edged down by 9.9 percent in May this year, while the industrial production index dropped from 87.3 points in December of 2020 to 86 points in January tis year.

Also, new building licenses decreased to 2,234 in January against 2,393 in December of last year and the revenue from the real estate sale tax dropped to JD4 million in January compared with JD8.9 million in the last month of 2020.