Japan has announced it will donate 2.5 billion yen ($22 million) to boost Jordanian economic reforms, and finance water projects, a Japanese embassy spokesman was quoted by the Jordan Times newspaper as saying.
The grant, the first to Jordan this year, will be disbursed later in the month, the spokesman added.
The donation falls under a bilateral economic assistance program sponsored by the state-run Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
JICA's President Kunihiko Saito was expected to arrive in Amman on Monday to further explore Jordan's economic needs, especially technical assistance for infrastructure and other development projects, the spokesman said.
According to JICA's website, Japan is one of the largest aid donors to Jordan, a resource-barren country that initiated economic reforms in 1989 to ease the burden of a foreign debt that now stands at $7 billion.
The reforms are supervised by the International Monetary Fund, said JICA.
Official figures show that Japanese aid to Jordan amounted to $1.58 billion in the 26 years ending in 1999, said the Jordan Times -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
