Jordan’s share of foreign grants

The general impression is that Jordan comes at the top of Third World countries that receive foreign grants to finance economic projects and support their budget.

It is also believed that the US is the most generous donor to developing countries.

Both assumptions are wrong.

A report by the Economist of London stated that Jordan is in the 43rd position among 46 recipient countries when it comes to amounts of grants accounted for in absolute figures.

It is in the 24th position among 44 countries in the per capita amount, i.e., after taking the size of the population into account.

The same report shows that America, whose economy controls one fourth of the world economy, is in the 17th position among 22 donor countries if amounts are accounted for as a percentage of its huge economy, yet it is obviously at the top of the list in absolute figures.

American’s foreign aid does not exceed one sixth of one per cent of its gross domestic product.

Relative to the size of their economies, the most generous countries in assisting poor and developing countries are Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Luxemburg and Saudi Arabia, in that order.

The highest recipients of foreign aid relative to their population are Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon.

Strange enough, Israel did not appear among countries that benefit from foreign aid, perhaps because what Israel receives comes under military aid from America and donations from the rich Jews around the world.

Neither source is included.

A political analyst claimed that Israel actually gets the lion’s share of American aid, as what this latter pays to Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Egypt is meant for the benefit of Israel, and should effectively be accounted for as aid to Israel.

The figures and percentages quoted in his article were published in 2010 and refer to 2007. The picture did not change in a material way since then.

Jordan depends heavily on foreign grants to finance its budget. The draft budget for 2015 shows that foreign grants expected to have been received in 2014 to support the budget will reach JD1,169 million, forming 15 per cent of the budget.

The government estimated the value of foreign grants to support the budget in 2015 to reach JD1,128 million forming 14 per cent of the total budget or 4 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Jordanians believe that their small country deserves more foreign aid due to its constructive role in the security of the region and because it has received and accommodated, at different times, huge influxes of refugees coming from Palestine, Iraq and of course Syria.

Jordan plays a positive regional role, despite its very limited resources.