Jordan Times
Sunday, February 20, 2005
US Congress to consider $200
million in extra assistance to the Kingdom
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — The US Congress is expected to consider granting Jordan $200 million in
extra assistance for the US fiscal year ending in October.
After returning from a weeklong visit to the US and before submitting his
resignation over the weekend, outgoing Planning and International Cooperation
Minister Bassem Awadallah told the press that the extra assistance constitutes
$100 million in military financing and $100 million in economic assistance.
An informed source said several Republican congressmen were hesitant about
granting the additional funds because of the sudden outlay of $950 million in US
assistance to the Asian countries hit by December's devastating tsunami.
But Awadallah said he was confident Congress would approve the extra funds.
The last congressional delegation to visit Jordan commended its economic growth,
agreeing with the government that “sustained US support and technical assistance
is essential to continued Jordanian progress.”
“The delegation asked Jordan to show other countries in the region that a
country with the same cultural and economic background can reform and develop a
strong, productive, and mutually beneficial trading relationship with the US,”
the delegation said in a statement.
Awadallah indicated that the Congress will also look into giving Jordan the
yearly scheduled assistance for 2006 totalling $406 million.
In addition to providing assistance to the water, health, economic growth,
education, and democracy and governance sectors in the country, the US Agency
for International Development (USAID) implements a multi-year, policy-based
balance of payment programme.
This assistance is provided in the form of a Cash Transfer, which has
constituted a major portion of the US assistance programme since 1997.
The Cash Transfer Programme provides the government with the required foreign
currency to pay down its external non-military debt to help reduce the
government's international debt burden and strengthen its foreign exchange
position.
Each year, a series of policy reform objectives in the water, health, economic
and social development sectors are linked to the disbursement of the Cash
Transfer Programme funds.
In return, the government provides an equal amount of money in Jordanian dinars
to support development programmes in the Kingdom.
The local currency programme associated with the Cash Transfer is programmed
jointly by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and USAID.
This programme has made possible several development initiatives through the
freeing-up of money that would have otherwise been used to pay off Jordan's
debt.
During 1997-2004, the USAID has provided over $800 million for the Cash Transfer
Programme: $50 million in 1997, $50 million in 1998, $100 million in 1999, $50
million in 2000, $50 million in 2001, $125 million in 2002, $144.5 million in
2003 and $238.5 million in 2004.
Moreover, an additional $700 million was provided to the Kingdom in 2003 to
offset the economic effects of the war in Iraq.
During the last seven years, total USAID funding reached $2.3 billion, whereas
in the last five decades it topped $3.78 billion.