São Paulo – Jordan’s minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Imad Fakhoury, has said that Germany just approved EUR 272.7 million in financial support to the Arab nation in 2016, according to information released this Monday (3) by Jordan news agency Petra.
According to the minister, it’s the largest amount ever granted in financial support by the European country to Jordan in a single year. For comparison, from 2012 to 2015, Germans loaned EUR 395.45 million to the country.
Fakhoury added that the majority of the funds will go to priority development projects and to the Jordan Response Plan to Syrian crisis 2016-2018. Jordan is one of the countries that take in the most refugees from Syria’s civil war. It has welcomed 1.3 million so far. The funds will aid communities that shelter these refugees and the education sector, says Petra.
The amount will be divided into EUR 146 million in loans and EUR 56.7 million in technical support. In the communities that receive refugees, the priority projects include water supply, sanitation, school building and power supply, plus programs that generate economic opportunities. The other EUR 70 million will be redirected by the German Development Bank KfW in the way of credit with lower interest rates.
Negotiations between Jordanians and Germans in this area concluded at the end of last week and were attended by representatives of Jordan ministries such as Planning, Labor, Education and Water Resources.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
