Amman, Dec. 29 (Petra) -- Results of the 13th round of Jordan’s Investor Confidence Index, prepared by Jordan Strategy Forum, showed that 60 percent of investors believe the country is moving in the right direction under the Economic Modernization Vision.

The findings indicated an increase in the share of investors who view economic conditions in 2025 as better than in 2024, rising to 23.2 percent compared with 16 percent in the 12th round last year.

On whether the country is on the right track, the proportion of investors holding this view rose by 14.5 percentage points to 46.7 percent in 2025. This marks the first time since 2019 that the share of those seeing the direction as right exceeded those who believe it is wrong.

Investors attributed this outlook mainly to security, safety, and stability (36.5 percent), followed by economic reforms and improvements in the investment and trade environment (25.2 percent), and government decisions (13.9 percent).

Regarding business performance in 2025 compared with 2024, 27 percent of respondents said conditions were better, up from 15.3 percent, while the share of those who viewed conditions as worse declined from 62.2 percent to 41.2 percent.

Looking ahead to 2026, the results reflected growing optimism, with the share of investors expecting conditions to improve rising from 36.6 percent in the previous round (2024) to 57 percent in the current survey.

The report showed that 68.2 percent of investors expect their companies’ economic transactions to improve next year, the highest level since 2019, signaling positive expectations for future economic activity.

The industrial sector was the most optimistic about future activity at 71.6 percent, followed by services at 68 percent and agriculture at 66.7 percent.

Large companies, employing more than 51 workers, were the most optimistic about their future business performance in 2026.

On the investment climate, the forum noted a marked rise in the share of investors who see Jordan’s investment environment as encouraging, from 31.7 percent to 45.4 percent.

When asked about business expansion or contraction in 2025, 53.3 percent said they maintained their operations, while the share of investors who expanded their businesses rose to 22.1 percent, up from 17.8 percent in the previous round. Large companies recorded the highest expansion rate at 40.6 percent.

As for employment, 67 percent of investors said they had not laid off employees over the past 12 months.

More than half of investors, 55.3 percent, said government efforts to attract investment were satisfactory, up from 38.5 percent in the previous round.

Satisfaction with government performance in strengthening public-private partnerships also increased to 59.5 percent, compared with 46.2 percent previously.

Under the public sector modernization roadmap, 67 percent of investors said implementation is moving in the right direction, up from about 58 percent in 2024 and 46 percent in 2023.

Among the seven components of the roadmap, procedures and digitalization recorded the highest level of tangible change at 89.6 percent.

In the new survey axis on the resilience of the Jordanian economy amid regional and global uncertainty, 81.4 percent of companies said they are capable of withstanding external shocks.

On priorities to enhance economic resilience, 39.1 percent of investors highlighted the importance of strengthening economic and trade integration with regional countries, including Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and the Gulf states, alongside supporting existing domestic investments and attracting new foreign investment.

The Investor Confidence Survey covers six main areas: the overall situation in Jordan, the investment environment, developments in the business climate and government economic measures, implementation of the Economic Modernization Vision initiatives, the public sector modernization roadmap, and economic resilience.

The survey was based on responses from 570 companies across various sectors and sizes, including large, medium, and small enterprises, in proportion to their representation in the national economy.

//Petra// NQ