Jordan's Foreign Ministry revealed that the value of national exports to Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) countries increased by 5.5 percent, reaching $888 million compared with the previous year's $842 million.
The increase was primarily driven by higher export volumes to the Saudi market, which amounted to approximately $288 million.
According to foreign trade data from the Department of Statistics (DoS), exports to the countries under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) witnessed a growth of 11.2 percent, reaching around $589 million compared with the $540 million recorded during 2022. It was mainly attributed to expanded Jordanian exports to the US.
Jordanian exports to non-Arab Asian countries saw a 10 percent increase during the first quarter of this year, reaching approximately $868 million compared with $789 million achieved during the same period last year.
The value of Jordanian exports to European Union countries rose 28.3 percent, reaching approximately $114 million compared with the previous year's $88 million. Belgium emerged as the top European destination for Jordanian exports, accounting for nearly $25 million.
Jordanian exports to other economic blocs witnessed a 4.9 percent increase, totaling around $324 million compared with the previous year's $308 million. It was driven by higher export volumes to the free zone, which amounted to approximately $149 million.
The ministry stated that total Jordanian exports achieved a slight growth with various trading partners and economic blocs during the first quarter of this year, to record $2.78 billion, compared to $2.56 billion for the same period last year.
