Jordan's forex reserves exceed $10.15 billion 

(MENAFN) The Central Bank of Jordan said that the kingdom's net foreign reserves rose 31 percent to $10.153 billion at the end of September compared with the start of the year, Reuters reported.

The kingdom's reserves stood at $7.74 billion at the start of the year and had been on an upward trend since a $2 billion debt buyback in March last year brought reserves down to $5.2 billion.

Bankers attribute the rise in foreign reserves mainly to the the Central Bank of Jordan's (CBJ) policy of allowing a wider interest rate differential against the dollar in favor of the dinar that had encouraged banks and depositors to keep funds in dinars.

Even Jordanian expatriates whose earnings were in foreign currencies were switching part of their savings into the dinar, attracted by interest as high as 4 percent compared with less than 1 percent on dollars, bankers say.