Doing business in Jordan

In recent years there has been a lot of foreign investment in the Middle East. Mainly this is in the petroleum industry, but interestingly one of the fastest growing economies isn't a major oil producer. For years Jordan has been one of the poorest countries in the Middle East because they didn't have the petroleum resources. However in recent years they have taken advantage of their strategic location to become one of the fastest growing economies in the area.

The main reason that you would want to do business in Jordan is that the country has had a fairly fast rate of growth in the last few years. Of course this is in large part because they had the most room to grow as one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. The main problem that Jordan has had with its economy is that unlike its neighbors they are not a major petroleum producer. This obviously puts them at a disadvantage. In addition there are few other natural resources and a fairly small population, all of which combine to slow the economic growth of the country.

What Jordan does have going for it is that it is located in a very strategic area, right in the heart of the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That means that it is in an ideal location to serve as a trading center. This is something that the government has set out to achieve by creating free trade zones in which products can be imported and re-exported without the need to pay duty. This has encouraged trade to flow through the country and has turned it into a major trans-shipment center for the area. This has resulted in substantial economic growth in recent years.

In order to help the economy to grow the government has made laws to help encourage foreign companies to do business in Jordan. Basically the laws allow foreign companies to be treated the same as domestic companies, there are no restrictions on foreign investment in Jordan. There are also tax incentives for foreign companies that want to set up shop in the country. This is mainly to encourage the growth of the area as a free trade center, limiting taxes helps encourage business to flow through Jordan.

Like most countries in the Middle East there are some challenges to doing business in Jordan. The main one is simply the different business culture. Things move more slowly and there is a lot more bureaucracy than most foreign business people are used to. There are also likely to be corrupt government officials although this isn't as bad as in a lot of other countries in the area. Because of its years of trailing behind its neighbors economically Jordan doesn't have the same level of infrastructure that you will find in other countries in the area. The workforce also isn't as skilled. Both of these things are going to increase the cost of doing business in Jordan. But we recommend to write a well-detailed business plan before you head off.