Jordan Times
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
US grants to support reforms
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN - The US and Jordan signed two grant deals on Monday worth $141 million to
support the Kingdom's state budget and to continue reform and development
projects.
The funds are part of US assistance to Jordan for the year 2007, totalling $532
million, including a $78 million in additional assistance announced Sunday.
Under the first grant deal, a total of $116 million will be provided to the
Kingdom to help reduce its foreign debt. The grant will also enable the
government to advance its judicial and legislative reforms, implement a number
of financial reforms and put in place a medical liability law, according to a
statement by the US embassy received by The Jordan Times.
"The bulk of the grant will be used for supporting the Kingdom's state budget
for the year 2007," Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair
Al-Ali told reporters yesterday prior to signing the deals with US Ambassador in
Amman David Hale.
On September 11, the government endorsed a JD500 million budget supplement. When
the JD4.3 billion 2007 budget was endorsed at the beginning of this year, the
deficit was forecast at JD385 million, or 3.4 per cent of GDP.
Yet, with the price of oil in the international market jumping to over $80 per
barrel, the deficit is expected to rise even further, exceeding the JD700
million mark.
The grants would support His Majesty King Abdullah's vision for equal
opportunities for all Jordanians and serve projects in vital sectors in the
Kingdom, including water and environment, said Hale.
Under the second deal, the US will allocate $25 million to improve water
management in Jordan, according to the embassy statement.
The money will also be used for supporting water and wastewater infrastructure
projects in the Kingdom.
In addition, it will finance a plan to educate the public on water issues,
promote water demand management and water conservation, and provide training in
operation and maintenance of water facilities.
Plans to improve industrial wastewater recycling measures to protect the
environment will also be funded by the grant money, according to the officials.
Water scarcity in the Kingdom is considered one of the main challenges facing
economic development, particularly in the agricultural sector, which consumes
the biggest share (62.4 per cent), followed by the household sector (32.4 per
cent), industry (4.4 per cent) and livestock breeding (0.8 per cent).
Jordan, one of the 10 poorest countries in the world in terms of water
resources, suffers an annual water deficit of around 500 million cubic metres,
according to official figures.
Some of the projects to benefit from the grant include an industrial wastewater
treatment plant, the Tafileh Wastewater Treatment Plant and other training
programmes in the field of water. Water facility maintenance will also be funded
by the second grant deal.
Minister of Environment Khalid Irani told The Jordan Times a portion of the
second grant will be used to finance a study to create a plant for treatment of
industrial wastewater at one of the country's Qualifying Industrial Zones.
The US assistance package to Jordan this year consists of $255.3 million in
economic assistance and $276.8 in security-related assistance.
Since 1952, US economic assistance, through USAID, to Jordan has totalled to $5
billion.