AMMAN: Jordan has received about 60 per cent of the total value of pledges donors made during a 2016 conference in London to support the Jordan Response Plan designed to address burdens arising from a massive influx of Syrian refugees, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Imad Fakhoury, said on Monday.
The minister told a joint press conference with the ambassadors of the European Union (EU), Britain, Germany and Norway, and the United Nation’s (UN) Resident Representative that only 36 per cent of the value of pledges made in 2015 were fulfilled but in 2016 the ratio increased to 60 per cent. He added that there are agreements of additional commitments for 2016 amounting to $522 million that are being still negotiated and will be signed during the first half of 2017.
According to Fakhoury, Jordan has secured an amount of $923.6 million in the form of soft loans concluded in 2016, including $834.6 million channeled to support the state’s budget and $89 million to finance developmental projects. He said this soft financing was pledged by donors and banks during the London conference.
He stressed the importance of this funding to cover a financing gap in the budget through reducing interest rates, extending grace and repayment periods, as that would help in restructuring public debt in accordance with the fiscal reform program agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The minister thanked EU members for supporting Jordan, saying such support enabled the Kingdom to secure additional regional financing windows, including the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the “Madad Fund”, as well as the support that was provided through a World Bank-run soft financing mechanism.
He said the government, with the support of donor countries and bodies, has taken the necessary measures to increase the number of Syrian refugee students in schools, taking into account maintaining the level and quality of education provided for Jordanian students.
Also, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and through donor’s support, the minister indicated that the government is working to enroll Syrian refugee children in catch-up education programs in order to prepare them for schools in the coming years.
Fakhoury expressed appreciation for the international support to the education sector, but he said the challenges in this sector remains, especially financing the Ministry of Education’s plan to cover the costs of public education services for the Syrian refugee students. He indicated that such cost is put at $1 billion for the 2016-2018 period.
Fakhoury also emphasized the importance of signing the joint decision between Jordan and the EU on simplifying rules of origin to pave the way for Jordanian products to benefit from customs exemptions and preferential terms under the Jordan-EU Association Agreement.
In this regard, the minister said the government, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply and the Investment Authority with the support of the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has implemented a project to support and rehabilitate 20 Jordanian factories and linking them with a number of European importers and distributors to help them export their products to European markets.
He added that the project will be expanded to include a larger number of factories to maximize the benefit from the decision on simplifying the rules of origin.
The minister said the Kingdom has been working with a number of countries and donors to expand this project soon and build on the outcome and success of its first phase, in addition to expanding technical assistance to companies to enable them meet European market’s standards, hence increasing exports.