AMMAN — The
Jordan Consumer Sentiment Index, a quarterly national survey by Ipsos Jordan,
showed a decline between the first and second quarters of this year.
اضافة اعلان
According to the
survey, approximately seven out of ten Jordanians have a negative view of the
current economic situation in Jordan, due to fear of unemployment and
inflation.
Experts in the
trade and financial sector interviewed by
Jordan News contended that the
decline was expected in view of the difficult economic situation Jordan, like
the rest of the world is going through because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its
economic repercussions, and political crises, including the Russian war on
Ukraine, which resulted in a significant global increase in prices.
Executive
Director of the Consumer Protection Society Maher Al-Hajjat told
Jordan News that the society conducted four surveys of Jordanian consumers between 2017 and
2019 and “the results of all four studies indicated that the economic
conditions are expected to get worse in the coming years, especially with
regard to job opportunities, investment, general productivity, and general
living conditions”.
He added: “Our
studies have proved that the economic situation is still bad as a result of the
lack of job opportunities, high prices of materials as a result of global conditions
and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the failure to create new opportunities and
attract new investments.”
According to
Hajjat, what is required is to change the current approach by focusing on both
economic and social dimensions, and not adopt “just an economic approach” that
gives free rein to “a certain category of traders”, an allusion to monopoly
practices.
President of the
Jordan Chamber of Commerce Nael Kabariti told
Jordan News that “the drop
in consumer sentiment does not apply to Jordan only as a separate case, but to
the whole world”.
He explained
that “there are global concerns about what is to come from an economic point of
view, especially in view of the high inflation rates, scarce liquidity and high
interest rates”.
“All these
factors have led to mistrust and lack of clarity regarding the future, due,
particularly, to the food security crisis and political tensions globally,” he
added.
Kabariti
stressed that Jordan is part of the world, and “what is happening in
neighboring or distant countries, in terms of crises and wars, affects us
directly”.
Economist
Mohammad Al-Basheer told
Jordan News that “the global sentiment index
declined due to the rise in commodity prices, which coincided with the erosion
of incomes”.
He said that
this is reflected in all countries, “but the situation in Jordan is more
difficult, in light of the challenges we are facing, including corruption and
unemployment, which affect directly our economy”.
He stressed that
the evidence portends more difficult conditions in the coming periods,
“especially if things remain as they are now, and prices of strategic
commodities, especially those related to oil and food, continue to rise”.
Economist Husam
Ayesh told
Jordan News that “this index expresses the citizens’ reading
of the current situation and its impact on them, and is linked, in the first
place, to regional and global influences and trends of the global economy.”
“When the
current data is reflected in the form of an indicator that measures the
reaction of Jordanian citizens, it will certainly mean that the citizen will
tend to reserve his spending for fear of upcoming problems, in addition to
reducing the demand for bank loans and reducing purchases,” he warned.
Ayesh emphasized
that “the concerned commercial sectors are supposed to study the costs they
incur and thus determine reasonable prices, with a small profit margin, that
consumers find suitable. This will lead to the revitalization of the economy,
and will have a positive impact on the economic performance” in the country.
A reason
consumers seem to fear the future, he said, are the outside circumstances,
which inevitably affect Jordan.
“One of the most
prominent challenges is the fact that the volume of imports is more than two
and a half times the volume of exports,” Ayesh said, adding that “this means
that we will remain hostage to the changes that are happening in the world.
The consequence,
he stressed, is this “negative view and fear of the future”.
According to
Ayesh, “the government has to take this index, and other indicators, seriously,
to study them in depth, together with the private sector and various other
concerned parties, and perhaps come up with a plan that will help alter the
negative perception of the consumer”.
Jordan’s
consumer confidence index is ranked 22nd globally among Ipsos countries where
the consumer confidence index is surveyed.
The consumer
confidence index is a key indicator of consumption trends in the domestic
market, and although it is a subsequent indicator of the economy’s movement,
the rise in consumer confidence predicts a rise in consumer mobility and an
increase in the demand for finance and investment, including the acceleration
of economic growth.
Industry,
retail, banking, and government sectors globally rely on reading the changes in
this index and incorporating its results into economic and investment decision
making.
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