Central Bank of Jordan Governor, Ziad Fariz revealed that the value of the bank's measures to contain the repercussions of the emerging Coronavirus crisis reached 2.5 billion dinars.
In a speech inaugurating the Financial Stability Report for the year 2019, Fariz explained that the Central Bank's measures to contain the repercussions of the Corona crisis are equivalent to 8.1% of GDP.
The Financial Stability Report showed an increase in the indebtedness of individuals in Jordan to 11.2 billion dinars at the end of the year 2019, as the ratio of the monthly burden of individual debt to income reached 43 percent. Indicating the continued decline in the concentration in the banking sector last year and the high level of competitiveness in the Jordanian banking sector in 2019, as the assets of the 5 largest banks out of 24 banks accounted for 53.6% of the total assets of licensed banks at the end of last year, compared to about 60% 10 years ago.
According to the report, the improvement is mainly due to the banks developing their businesses and products to increase their competitiveness in addition to the increase in the number of banks after the entry of three new banks in 2009. The Central Bank disclosed that the stress tests demonstrated the ability of the banking sector to withstand the shocks and high risks due to Corona, calling for the need for banks to consider the upper limit of the ratio of the loan to the value of the mortgaged property.
Source (Al-Dustour Newspaper-Jordan, Edited)
