Arab News | Rising through a regional war, Jordan’s market chief tells Gulf money: Don’t sell, diversify

AMMAN: Jordan’s stock market rally is built on economic fundamentals rather than speculative inflows, the head of the country’s securities regulator has said, as the Amman Stock Exchange recorded a 38 percent gain, ranking first among Arab bourses by index performance in 2025.

“It’s proven that it’s not hot money,” Emad Abu Haltam, chairman of the Jordan Securities Commission, told Arab News in an exclusive interview. “It’s a combination of institutional and retail investments, both foreign and local.”

The index gained 38.2 percent in the 12 months to September, he said, bringing cumulative growth over two years to around 70 percent. Market capitalization has climbed to a record range of $45 billion to $47 billion, a figure Abu Haltam described as unprecedented for Jordan’s capital market. Total returns, including reinvested dividends, also reached record highs, he added.

He tied the performance directly to the wider economy. Listed companies posted their second-highest audited profits on record in 2025 and record profits in the first half of 2026. Exports, remittances from Jordanians abroad and tourism income have each grown by 10 to 15 percent year on year, despite regional travel disruptions.

“Jordan as a whole is an investment shelter despite the geopolitical tensions in the region,” he said.

Foreign selling ‘part of the game’

Data for June showed market liquidity reaching a year-to-date high, even as foreign investors were net sellers of around $12.8 million. Abu Haltam played down the outflow.

“We don’t consider it a significant number,” he said, calling it “a normal correction” in an open market that welcomes regional competition. “It’s part of the process, it’s part of the game.”

He pointed to two decades of legislative reform covering governance, transparency and disclosure, and a stronger local investor base. New mutual funds have registered over the past year at a pace not seen in years, and private-sector companies have begun issuing Islamic sukuk.

Foreign investors, he argued, tend to follow strong local anchor investors. “Definitely they will come and capitalize on this.”

Fewer listings, bigger companies

The number of listed companies has fallen in recent years. Abu Haltam acknowledged the decline but attributed it largely to consolidation. “It shrank already, and now we are in the process of self-correction and reviving again,” he said.

Mergers and acquisitions, including mega-mergers among banks, and capital increases have produced larger, more institutionalized firms able to reach new export markets, he said. He cited phosphate and potash producers as well as Jordan’s services exporters.

The regulator is now working with the government on incentives to encourage family businesses, privately held firms and state-owned companies to go public. It expects new initial public offerings during the second phase of Jordan’s Economic Modernization Vision, running from 2026 to 2029.

He also wants the bourse to help finance the $15 billion in mega-projects the government has announced in energy, railways and mining, through corporate bonds, sukuk and green and blue financing. Banking deposits stand at more than 50 billion Jordanian dinars ($70.52 billion), and Abu Haltam said: “We want our share as a capital market.”

A pitch to the Gulf

Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are spending heavily to attract listings and capital. Abu Haltam framed the relationship as “healthy competition” rather than rivalry, pointing to close ties with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including the railway project recently launched by King Abdullah II and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince.

Despite the rally, he said valuations remain attractive based on price-to-earnings ratios and yields, with listed companies “generous” in distributing dividends. He also cited the market’s resilience during the US-Iran war in March, when Amman recorded one of its highest inflows even as other regional indices were hit.

“We don’t say liquidate your portfolios and come to Jordan,” he said, addressing Saudi and Emirati investors. “Diversify your portfolio. You have an opportunity in the Jordanian companies listed in the market.”

Central to that pitch is Jordan’s emerging role as a logistics hub, linking Gulf economies to wider markets through rail, port and infrastructure investment. He said the region’s conflicts have made that role more necessary, not less.

“Even with this war and geopolitical risk and tensions, we actually prove that Jordan has an opportunity for anyone that can invest in Jordan,” he said, “to increase their capacities, to not have any disruption in supply chain, and to export to the whole world through Jordan.”