Jordanian expatriates sent home over 1.308 billion Jordanian dinars ($1.8 billion) during the year 2000, according to a recently report issued by the Jordanian Central Bank. The report further estimated that capital transfers during the first quarter of 2001 totaled JD 317 million, compared with JD 280.8 million in the corresponding period the previous year, reported Al-Hayat.
The bank asserts that remittances from expatriates are one of the country’s most important revenue sources. The report assessed total transfers over since 1996 at JD 13.7 billion, constituting some 22 percent of the kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP) during that period. Capital transfers during over the past year have been 19.5 percent higher than in 1996, when the figure stood at JD 1.095 billion.
Such transfers, coming from the more than 400,000 Jordanian citizens residing abroad, are used to establish new companies, invest in Jordan’s stock market, purchase real estate, and contribute to alleviating the national unemployment crisis.
The number of Jordanian expatriates has reportedly grown in recent year as political relations warm between Jordan and its neighbors. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
