Jordan, World Bank discuss partnership

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Thursday met with the World Bank’s regional director for the Mashreq, Saroj Jha, who is currently visiting Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, attended by Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and Finance Minister Omar Malhas, Mulki discussed ties between Jordan and the World Bank, as well as Jordan’s economic challenges in hosting thousands of Syrian refugees.

Mulki commended the World Bank’s efforts in supporting Jordan through the concessional financing of the general budget, in addition to supporting the Kingdom’s economic priorities. The prime minister stressed that Jordan’s burdens are now exceeding its capacity, noting the need for mobilising the necessary finances for continuing services to refugees and their host communities.

He noted that Jordan’s needs are only loans and grants, but more measures are required to stimulate the economy and attract investments that generate jobs.

The premier expressed his appreciation for the partnership with the bank, stressing the importance of increasing grants to support the budget and the development projects, which would help bridge the financial gap in the treasury to reduce interests and extend grace periods, leading to the restructuring of the public debt.

For his part, Fakhoury stressed that Jordan has reached a “saturated level” in regards to its capabilities in hosting the Syrian refugees “on behalf of the world”, calling for international support to the Kingdom.

During his visit, Jha is scheduled to hold various meetings with a number of ministers.

For his part, Jha praised Jordan for its holistic reforms and achievements, of which the most recent was moving forward 15 points on the index of Ease of Doing Business issued by the International Financial Foundation affiliated with the bank.     

According to Petra, under the country partnership programme with the World Bank for the period 2017-2022, the indicative value of allocations to Jordan is $1.4 billion, of which $660 million were committed to support the budget, municipal services, health sector, economic opportunities, and the small and medium enterprises.