Kuwait Fund extends $80mn worth of loans & grants to Jordan

KFAED
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By Arya M Nair, Official Reporter
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The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), a financial and technical assistance provider, has signed two development aid agreements to support Jordan with a total value of $80 million.

The agreements were signed by Jordan’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Mr. Nasser Shraideh and KFAED Director-General, Mr. Marwan Al-Ghanem at KFAED headquarters.

The aid, which includes $20 million in grants and $60 million in loans, ensures to contribute to fund the project ‘ Sabah Al-Ahmad port for liquefied natural gas and to help the Syrian refugees.

According to Mr. Al Ghanem, the $60 million loans will be financed on the port venture mainly for the re-paving of the harbor pier, building a terminal for processing liquefied gas and turning it into gas at Jordan’s Aqaba Port.

The grant pact of $20 million will be funded to the Jordan Response Plan (JRP) to the Syrian Crisis in the health sector which aims to complete the project for overhauling old buildings and constructing new units at the Al-Bashir hospital and the planned King Abdullah hospital.

The grant has been allocated in line with the State of Kuwait’s commitments, announced at the third Brussels conference for supporting Syria’s future held in 2012 with a total pledged sum amounting to $300 million. Kuwait’s contribution in the declared promised amount totaled $127.5 million.

KFAED has previously funded to help Palestine refugees. In October, the Fund signed an agreement with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to provide a total of $21.5 million. The $20 million to support the Agency’s core services in 2021 and 2022 and $1.5 million for health and hospitalization services to Palestine refugees in Lebanon.

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