The confidence of investors operating in the Jordanian market decreased by 1.72 points in from February to March 2018 according to Jordan Strategy Forum’s Jordan Investor Confidence Index which was released on Monday.

The index is issued monthly and aims to measure confidence through three aspects: confidence in the Jordanian Dinar and the monetary system also known as the “Monetary Sub-Index”; confidence in the real economy; and confidence in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE).

The index measures the impact of policy decisions and exogenous developments on investor confidence in order to engender a strong decision-making process in both the public and private sector.

The Monetary Sub-Index observed a slight decrease as the foreign reserves of Jordan’s Central Bank dropped by JD 167.9 million to reach JD 11.64 Billion and the interest rate differential increased from four to 4.25 percent.

The Real Economy Sub-Index decreased by y 1.74 points, to reach 121.8 points which was caused by a number of indicators, namely the decrease of the number of companies registered and the decrease in their capital.

Furthermore, tax on the monthly real estate volume remained unchanged and even though the number of construction permits increased slightly and manufacturing increased those changes were not enough to offset the decrease.

The ASE Sub-Index was the only measurement that witnessed an increase, however small, 0.37 points to reach 88.62, as the ratio of inflow to outflow of foreign investment in ASE increased to reach 108 percent.

According to the forum, the sub indices are compared to expected values according to trends since 2007 up until now. The increase or decrease in the sub-indices is dependent on the goals set out by the trend rather than the absolute value of increase or decrease in the indicators.

Below are the changes observed in the sub-indices between January and March 2018.