MoU signed on UAE's $1.25bn grant to Jordan

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a grant committed by the UAE to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as the UAE's contribution to the GCC's Gulf Development Fund initiative.

The UAE's contribution within this initiative amounts to $1.25 billion (Dh4.6 billion), equivalent to 25 per cent of the total value of the support offered to Jordan. Four Gulf countries, namely, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will give the total grant over five years.

The MoU was signed in Jordan by Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Acting Director General of ADFD, and Dr. Jafar Abed Hassan, Jordanian Minister of Planning and International Co-operation.

The grant, which will be managed by the ADFD, will go into financing projects in a number of vital sectors, including health, education, water and sanitation, roads, transportation and energy. This initiative aims to help Jordan overcome economic challenges and carry out sustainable development.

Al Suwaidi said: " The wise leadership of the UAE has given directives to deposit the full value of the grant in the Central Bank of Jordan to support the Jordanian economy."

With this current grant, the total assistance to Jordan given and managed by ADFD on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government now amounts to more than Dh5 billion.

The projects financed by ADFD loans in the housing sector include the development project under way in southern Al Shalalah (Dh109.65 million); and in the water sector, ADFD financed the King Talal Dam (Dh21.5 million) and the Wahda Dam (Dh36.7 million).

In the agriculture sector, the loans are funding an integrated development project of the southern GHURS (Dh53.04 million) and the development project of Yarmouk River (Dh18.36 million).

In the industrial sector, there is the Al Hasa phosphate mining project Dh100 million and the phosphate fertiliser plant project in Aqaba Dh19 million.

ADFD funded the Children's Hospital project in King Hussein Medical City with a loan of Dh44.07 million, and gave an additional loan of Dh29.38 million for the same project. It also funded the improvement and expansion of Al Bashir Hospital project with Dh70.88 million. The roads and transport sector got Dh5 million for the Azraq Road project on the border with Saudi Arabia.


 

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