AMMAN: Jordan has extended its year-old guarantee of all bank deposits until the end of 2010.

“This step reflects the government’s determination to shoulder its responsibilities as well as its confidence in the performance of banks operating in Jordan,” Prime Minister Nader Dahabi told a meeting of bank executives on Thursday.

In a move to assure clients of Jordanian commercial banks following the advent of the global financial crisis in September 2008, Amman decided a year ago to guarantee all bank deposits until the end of 2009 without any ceilings. “The government managed to address the financial crisis in a rational manner, thanks to the cooperation between the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) and the banking sector,” Dahabi said.

He said the monetary policies adopted by the CBJ and its strict supervision of lending by banks had helped to deal with the repercussions of the crisis.

However, Dahabi pointed out that the “biggest challenge” facing the Jordanian government lay in the public budge deficit, which officials expected to reach an unprecedented level of 1.5 billion dollars at the end of the year.