The Jordanian government has allowed foreign investors to own up to 100 percent in the local mining industry firms, reported the Jordan Times newspaper Monday.
The change was introduced by amendments to the Non-Jordanian Investments Regulation, which was approved by the Investment Promotion Corporation (IPC) and circulated among the Amman Stocks Exchange (ASE) brokerage houses, said the paper.
Sources told the daily that the new regulation, which replaced the 1995 rules, linked such ownership to the approval of the council of ministers.
According to the privatization law, endorsed by the Lower House last year, the mining industry was among the few sectors where non-Jordanian ownership was restricted to below 50 percent, said the paper.
Jordan's mining sector, concentrated in phosphate and potash, accounts for about 5 percent of GDP and over 35 percent of exports, according to a report by Jordan’s National Information Center (NIC).
In addition, plans are underway for the expansion of rock phosphate production and, through joint venture arrangements, the expansion of phosphoric acid production and the opening of export lines for derivatives of Dead Sea brine (bromine and magnesium oxide), said the NIC.
There are two main mining companies in Amman.
The Arab Potash Company (APC) produces potash and related chemicals at a plant at the southern end of the Dead Sea area.
Exports amounted to US$ 174 million in 1999, and growth prospects are very good, according to the center.
The other facility, Jordan Phosphate Mining Company (JPMC), produces rock phosphate in several inland mines, and its exports place Jordan among the top three phosphate exporters in the world.
Known reserves are adequate for decades of production at current or higher levels. Exports of phosphate rock and fertilizer products exceeded US$ 300 million in 1999, and as with potash, growth prospects are very good, the NIC report said – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
