But the most important economic question remains whether this rise reflects a real improvement in the fundamentals of the economy and companies, or is it just a repricing of financial assets? The available data gives us an important part of the answer. Companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange achieved after-tax profits of about 2.348 billion dinars in 2025, compared to 2.081 billion dinars in 2024, an increase of 12.9%. These profits represent the second highest historical level of profits for listed companies. Pre-tax profits also rose by 9.6% to 3.269 billion dinars.
So we are facing a more complex economic phenomenon than just a rise in share prices. There is a rise in share prices, a rise in market value, a significant increase in trading, and at the same time an increase in company profits. This is very important because financial markets are essentially based on pricing the future cash flows of companies. In a simplified way, the current value of a share is linked to the profits and expected future cash flows, and the discount rate that reflects interest rates and risk.
Therefore, the rise in share prices can occur when investors' expectations of future profits rise, when expected risks decrease, when more liquidity is available looking for investment opportunities, or when the cost of financing decreases. In practical terms, these factors may come together, and here the importance of looking at the performance of the stock market in the context of the Jordanian economy as a whole appears. The real GDP grew by 2.75% during the first nine months of 2025, compared to 2.53% during the same period in 2024. The economy also grew by 2.81% in the third quarter of the year. This means that the rise in the stock market did not occur in an economy experiencing a contraction, but came in the context of continued economic growth and improved performance of a number of sectors.
Another important indicator is that the banking sector, which represents a significant weight in the Amman Stock Exchange, was operating in an environment of high monetary and financial stability. The Central Bank pointed to the growth of customer deposits and credit facilities, with continued indicators of banking strength and liquidity at strong levels during 2025. This leads us to another factor, liquidity, the increase in trading value by 80.6% is much higher than the increase in the index of 45.1%. This means that the activity within the market increased at a faster pace than the rise in prices.
Economically, the increase in liquidity is important because it means greater ability to enter and exit the market, helps to discover prices, and reduces the problem of weak trading that small markets usually suffer from. But liquidity alone is not enough. It is very important to monitor the extent to which this liquidity is transformed from trading in existing shares to financing new investment. Here specifically, the stock market can move from being a mirror of the economy to becoming a tool for financing the economy.
If the rise in the market value of companies leads to enhancing their ability to issue new shares, finance expansion, and finance investment projects, then the capital market becomes a real source of growth. If the activity remains confined to the re-trading of existing shares and their price increases, the direct impact on the real economy will be limited. And this is perhaps the most important stage for the Amman Stock Exchange.
This means increasing the number of listed companies, expanding the investor base, raising the level of liquidity, improving disclosure and governance, developing new financial instruments, and encouraging large family and private companies to convert to public joint-stock companies when it is economically appropriate. Therefore, the number to be monitored in 2026 is not just the stock market index, but a set of indicators together: profit growth, dividends, trading volume, market value, private investment, credit directed to the private sector, and the development of GDP. These indicators together give us a more accurate picture of the relationship between the financial market and the real economy.
We reiterate that the fundamental transformation is the transformation of this confidence into new investment, the transformation of liquidity into financing, the transformation of company profits into expansion and productivity, and the transformation of the depth of the financial market into a greater ability to finance the economy. The goal at the macroeconomic level is for the Amman Stock Exchange to contribute to the transformation of the rise in the value of financial assets into an increase in investment, production, and job opportunities. To be the beginning of a new phase in which the capital market is one of the main drivers of economic growth in Jordan.
