[23/10/2008 18:30]

Amman, Oct. 23 ( Petra )—Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said his government would guarantee the safety of deposits in banks operating in the Kingdom till the end of 2009. He said the assets were fully secure and protected, reminding that it never happened in the Kingdom’s history that depositors had lost any of their savings. Dahabi told bankers and CEOs of lending institutions at the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) that the banking sector had not been hit by a credit crunch. He noted that a liquidity surplus in the local market amounted to half billion dinars plus 5 billion dinars assets and treasury bonds. CBJ Governor Umayyah Touqan also denied there was a credit crisis in the Kingdom as struggling loan repayment rates remained around a normal average of 4 percent. He also said there was no inter-bank lending trouble as interest rates had been clearly reduced, and called for incentives for banks willing to merge. //Petra// ON

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