Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
US grants Jordan $119.05m
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — The US on Tuesday granted Jordan $119.05 million in economic aid to help the government reduce foreign debt and bolster development plans.
The first agreement's $100 million cash transfer
will be geared towards paying off the government's $6.77 billion debt and
increase its $462 million foreign exchange reserves.
According to a US embassy statement, the government will in exchange make an
equal amount of money available in dinar (JD70 million) to support the
three-year-old Socio-Economic Transformation Plan (SETP) projects.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Bassem Awadallah, who signed
the deal with US Ambassador Edward Gnehm, told reporters yesterday that grant
will also fund several development initiatives. The initiatives include the
construction of a road between Naur, Hisban and Madaba; support of the National
Aid Fund's Family Income Supplement Programme; development of housing units for
the poor in rural areas; capacity building for the Aqaba Special Economic Zone
Authority (ASEZA) and upgrading the port city's container terminal, said the
statement.
The US will provide under the second agreement $19.05 million to support the US
Agency for International Development's projects.
This includes an e-Government programme, support to the Executive Privatisation
Commission, support to the Jordan-US Business Partnership and the development of
ASEZA.
During 2004, the US grants were distributed to aid key sectors: $32.4 million
for social development, $39.6 million for the water sector, $37.6 for creating
economic opportunities, $188 million to finance SETP, $50 million to support the
treasury, in addition to $525,000 to finance technical assistance to the
ministries.
The US financial assistance to Jordan is considered among the largest aid
programmes in the world, according to the US embassy. It has exceeded $2.3
billion over the last decade, while only during the last two years it exceeded
$1 billion.