Jordan received $1.8 billion in loans and grants in 1999 and 2000 with grants taking the lion’s share, Planning Minister Jawad Hadid said in an interview published by Al Dustour newspaper.
Grants represented 64.2 percent of the overall figure, with Iraq and the US holding first and second place respectively on Jordan’s list of donors, Hadid told the newspaper. “Iraq’s oil protocol with Jordan represents 43.5 percent of the total of grants given to Jordan while the US contributed 38.2 percent of the grants received in 1999 and 2000,” Hadid said.
The European Union was responsible for 12.3 percent of total donations, followed by Japan with 4.9 percent, Hadid said. The World Bank was the main source of loans to the kingdom, providing 34.2 percent of the total. Iraq supplied Jordan with 4.8 million tons of oil, half at preferential rate and half free, in 1999 and 2000, under a UN-approved agreement, in exchange for $300 million worth of exports from Amman.
Jordan is the fourth largest recipient of US aid and has received nearly $1 billion assistance from Washington over the past three years. – AMMAN (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
