Day: 6 July 2024

His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah sent on Saturday a cable of congratulations to President of the Union of the Comoros Azali Assoumani on his country’s Independence Day.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

The government debt balance, after excluding loans to the Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF), amounted to JD32.537 billion, or 89.1% of the gross domestic product for the month of March 2024, compared to 89.5% at the end of 2023, the latest economic data showed.

A total of 7.6 billion securities were registered with the Securities Depository Center of Jordan (SDC) last June with a total value of 18.6 billion.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,028 companies were registered in the first half of the current year, up by 5% over the same period in 2023, including 2,188 limited liability firms, representing 72.2% of registered companies, with registered capital exceeding JD48.3 million.

According to the data, the Kingdom’s tourism income amounted to $2.6 billion during the first five months of the current year, down by 6.5%, compared to the corresponding period in 2023, due to a 10% decline in the number of tourists.

Additionally, inflation rose by 1.65% during the first five months of the current year.

As for the u
nemployment rate in the Kingdom, figures showed its drop in the first quarter of this year by 0.5%, compared to the first quarter of last year, and remained “stable,” against the last quarter of last year, recording 21.4%.

The value of total exports in the first third of the current year amounted to about JD2.748 billion, compared to JD2.872 billion for the same period last year, marking a decrease of 4.3%, the data revealed.

Also in the first third of this year, the value of national exports amounted to about JD2.488 billion, compared to JD2.682 billion for the same period last year, recording a decrease of 7.2%.

The value of the Kingdom’s imports surged in the first third of the current year by 0.1% to reach JD5.818 billion, compared to JD5.813 billion for the same period last year.

Accordingly, the deficit in the Kingdom’s trade balance in the first third of this year amounted to about JD3.070 billion, compared to JD2.941 billion for the same period last year, constituting an increase of 4.4%.

The Cen
tral Bank of Jordan (CBJ)’s foreign reserves maintained their “high” levels of $18.8 billion, which are sufficient to cover the Kingdom’s imports of goods and services for 8.2 months, the figures showed.

Source: Jordan News Agency

His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent on Saturday a congratulatory cable to the President of Malawi Lazarus Chakwera on his country’s Independence Day.

In the cable, His Highness the Crown Prince wished the president utmost health.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

Amman: Masoud Pezeshkian will become Iran’s president After winning a run-off with 53.7 percent of votes, defeating his rival Saeed Jalili, the Interior Ministry announced Saturday.

Pezeshkian won 53.6% of 30.5 million ballots counted in Friday’s presidential vote, against Jalili who had 44.3%, according to final results. Turnout was at 49.8%, it said.

Pezeshkian came ahead of Jalili in the first round of the June 28 snap election to choose a successor to President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Gaza Strip: Israeli forces carried out three massacres against Palestinian civilians and families in the past 24 hours in the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, and hospitals receives 29 bodies and 100 injured people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The latest casualties raised the death toll to 38,098 and the injured to 87,705, it said in its daily report on casualties from the aggression, now in its 274th day. It added that many victims remained under the rubble of bombed out buildings or on roads, out of reach of medics and civil defense teams.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Gaza: Israeli forces Saturday killed 14 Palestinians and injured several in a bombing that targeted a school where displaced people sought refuge in central Gaza.

Palestinian civil defence officers recovered the bodies of a woman and a child after Israeli warplanes targeted their home in central Gaza.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Cairo: Egypt warned on Saturday of the “catastrophic repercussions” of the civil war in Sudan, which dragged on for over a year and requires an immediate and sustained cessation of military operations to spare the country’s resources and national institutions.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Badr Abdel Ati told a conference of Sudanese political and civil forces in Cairo that Egypt, in cooperation with all parties, will continue to exert every effort possible to “stop the bloodshed and preserve the gains of Sudanese people.”

He called on the international community to deliver on pledges made at the High-Level Pledging Event on Sudan and the Region in Geneva in June 2023 and the International humanitarian conference for Sudan and neighboring countries in Paris on April 15, 2024, to bridge the existing financing gap of about 75% of total needs.

The Cairo conference brought together representatives of Sudanese political and civilian forces, the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, t
he European Union, and other countries.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: His Majesty King Abdullah wrote on X Saturday, congratulating the Arab and Islamic nations on the occasion of the new Hijri year, which falls on Sunday, July 7.

The King wrote, “A blessed Hijri year. We remember the high values ??that the Prophet Muhammad – Peace be upon him – displayed to spread the great message of Islam.” May God give our homeland and the Arab and Muslim nations many more.”

Source: Jordan News Agency