The stock exchange is defined economically as the "mirror of the economy", and the first thing that any foreign investor looks at when he goes to invest in any market, regardless of the infrastructure and the regulating economic legislation.

There is always a correlation between the economic performance of a country and the indicators of the "stock exchange" according to the economic rule "the money market is the mirror of the economy", as the performance of the stock market reflects the investors' expectations regarding the economic situation, and the market indicators actually reflect the economic performance, especially as they include all economic sectors, and therefore Its indicators, whether upward or downward, will express the strength or weakness of the economy.

In view of the reality of the local economy, the level of recovery was evident in its “mirror”, the Amman Stock Exchange, whose indices recorded a positive performance during the year 2022, and was among the best three major Arab stock exchanges in terms of the performance of the general index during the year 2022, as it recorded the general index of weighted stock prices. The free shares of the stock exchange increased to 2501 points at the end of 2022 compared to 2118 points at the end of 2021, an increase of more than 18 percent, achieving the highest annual gains in fifteen years.

The market value of the Stock Exchange increased from 15.3 billion dinars in 2021 to reach about 18 billion dinars last year, constituting 56% of the GDP.

The volume of trading last year was about 1.9 billion dinars during 248 trading days, at a daily rate of 7.7 million dinars.

The profits achieved after tax (attributing to the company's shareholders) for the companies listed on the ASE for the year 2022 amounted to about 2.422 billion dinars compared to 1.306 billion dinars for the same companies for the year 2021, an increase of 85.5 percent, which is historically unprecedented profits recorded by these companies, knowing that the profits are before tax These companies amounted to 3.349 billion dinars for the year 2022, compared to 1.815 billion dinars for the year 2021, an increase of 84.5 percent.

Profits distributed by the public shareholding companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for the past year amounted to about 1.048 billion dinars, compared to 786 million dinars in the previous year.

In terms of sector, profits after tax (attributing to the company's shareholders) for the year 2022 for the industrial sector amounted to 1.347 billion dinars, compared to 576 million dinars for the year 2021, an increase of 133.6 percent.

As for the services sector, profits amounted to 242 million dinars for the year 2022, compared to 117.7 million dinars for the year 2021, an increase of 105.6 percent.

With regard to the financial sector, its profits amounted to 832.6 million dinars for the year 2022, compared to 611.5 million dinars for the year 2021, an increase of 36.2 percent.

The improvement in the performance of the Stock Exchange and the profits of companies came in light of the increase in the operational activity of these companies and the emergence of indicators of the beginning of recovery and improvement in many macroeconomic indicators, in terms of increasing economic growth rates, growth in exports, increase in tourism income, Jordanian remittances, significant growth in the reserves of the Central Bank, and improvement in Growth numbers and praises from major global economic institutions, in addition to Jordan's launch of the vision of economic modernization and the launch of its executive programs.

The positive results achieved by most of the leading companies, especially the banking and mining sectors last year, are consistent with investors’ expectations towards achieving better results for banks during the rest of this year as a result of not having to take new allocations and the decrease in the provision for credit facilities to 4.6 percent of the total debt compared to 5.3 in 2021. In addition to the expansions carried out by some banks and their acquisition of branches of banks in the Kingdom and abroad, and obtaining licenses for branches outside the Kingdom, and clear indications about the results of the phosphate and potash companies and other mining companies and companies that deal with raw materials and achieving results that exceed previous years, as a result of the high prices of raw materials. worldwide.

The general index is led by a state of investor optimism, especially after its stability above the resistance barrier at the level of 2500 and its steadfastness in the face of the wave of speculation and the closing of financial centers, which was witnessed in the last period following the holding of the General Assembly meetings and the companies’ announcement of their dividends.

The former Minister of Finance, Dr. Muhammad Abu Hammour, told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that the performance of the public shareholding companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for the year 2022 indicates a high level of commitment by companies to submit their financial statements on time, which confirms that there is a clear tendency to enhance transparency and good governance in the sector. management of these companies.

He added that the improvement of the conditions of companies and the achievement of record profits confirm that the Jordanian economy has overcome the repercussions of Corona, and was able to adapt to the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, explaining that these results will reflect positively on shareholders, investors and the state treasury by increasing distributions and taxes.

Abu Hamour said, "It is hoped that part of the profits will be invested in expansion projects and new investments, which will enhance growth and contribute to improving the investment climate in general," stressing that the stock exchange reflects the actual performance of the various economic units and shows the strengths and weaknesses of the national economy.

He added that the industry continued to play a leading role, due in part to the improvement in economic performance, as well as to the rise in the prices of some commodities in the wake of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. As for the results of the financial sector, we can discern from it that its performance was balanced even during crises, so the growth rate is in Profits, although lower than other sectors, are a profound indication of improved performance.

In turn, Professor of Economics at the University of Jordan, Dr. Raad Al-Tal, said that the stock market contributes to activating economic growth. The market's effectiveness and efficiency of its performance positively affect the size and quality of investment, and this is an important determinant of economic growth. Through the standard study, it has been proven that there is a positive and significant impact of the general stock price index in the Amman Financial Market on the Jordanian economic growth in the long term, which is consistent with economic theory. Considering that the rise in stock prices has a positive impact on the overall investment.

He pointed out that the improvement in the indicators of the Amman Stock Exchange in the past period was supported by the improvement of the listed companies through the achievement of large unprecedented net profits, which is not isolated from the economic developments and the slow recovery that occurred during the past two years, from the rise in national exports and recording positive growth rates, and the increase in tourism income. And the increase in remittances of Jordanians abroad, in addition to the presence of a comfortable balance of the Central Bank’s total foreign currency reserves, which amounted to about $ 17 billion at the end of the year 2022.

Al-Tal confirmed that one of the most important indicators that measure the performance of the stock exchange is the general stock price index weighted by free float, explaining that one of the advantages of this index is to give a better representation of stock price movements in the market, so that it is not biased to a large extent for companies with high market value, and thus Provides diversification in the components of the index sample by giving more opportunity to small and medium-sized companies to influence the movements.

He pointed out that the ASE has recently implemented many of its strategic plan projects with the aim of developing the legislative and technical frameworks and promoting digital transformation in the stock exchange, in a way that enhances the investment climate and increases the stock market's attractiveness to local and foreign investments, and in a way that contributes to developing and strengthening the national economy and attracting more investments. .

The first and main requirement for the dealers in the ASE to maintain and continue the improvement in performance remains to find a package of incentives, and find flexible and modern legislation to encourage and establish institutional investment represented by the establishment of mutual investment funds, which contributes to mobilizing savings and surplus liquidity and directing them to the national stock market, and creating a law and legislation that encourages The merger of existing public shareholding companies because of its benefits in increasing the strength of the sectors and increasing their financial and administrative efficiency, in addition to encouraging investment bank funds to enter the Amman Stock Exchange and pump more liquidity.