Been desperately trying hear any detailed official commentary on the country’s exposure to the global financial crisis beyond the “we are fine…” sentence, I found something through Google News. (On Jordan’s official silence throughout the crisis read this article on AlGhad (http://alghad.jo/index.php?article=10661)
Bloomberg News in Amman received a fax from Umaya Touqan (Governor or Central Bank of Jordan) on Oct. 7th with answers on their questions; read on…
Jordan Expects `Minor’ Impact From Global Crisis, Governor Says
Highlights:
“The impact of the U.S. financial crisis on Jordan’s growth is expected to stay minor,”
“Jordanian banks are in a safe and sound financial position” as they avoided risks faced by the U.S. banks and some large European banks.”
“Containing inflation pressures is currently Jordan’s most pressing priority,” he said. “Therefore, the prevailing economic conditions suggest that Jordan does not need to ease monetary policy through cutting interest rates.”
“Jordanian banks had very limited exposure’ to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.” which was the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank before it filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 15 and to international asset-backed securities, Toukan said.
Extra important note from the article, not by Umaya…
In an Oct. 1 report, Fitch Ratings Ltd. said because of the kingdom’s banks’ “local focus, current international credit market conditions have not yet had a significant impact on the banking system.” It added that “the Jordanian economy and, therefore, the banking system may be affected by a global economic slowdown, even if only through a decrease in foreign direct investment flows and a reduction in export activity.”
Update: If you would like to know more on about the crisis in relation to Jordan/Middle East/Tech World follow this quest on Questler http://questler.com/explore/quest/view/992
