Gov’t, AFESD sign soft loan agreement worth $100m

AMMAN — The government and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) on Thursday signed a soft loan agreement of 30 million Kuwaiti dinars (some $100 million) to finance and support government programmes to face the repercussions of the COVID-19 spread on the private sector.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Wissam Rabadi, who signed the agreement on behalf of the government, said that the deal is part of the government’s endeavours to increase economic growth rates, create jobs and support entrepreneur initiatives, according to a ministry statement.

The agreement will provide soft funds necessary for the private sector’s micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) projects and institutions, Rabadi added.

The amount of the loan will be deposited at the Central Bank of Jordan for relending it, on behalf of the government, to banks or micro-financing institutions, which will relend it to micro and SMEs directly, with the possibility for banks to relend it through micro-financing institutions, the statement said.

Abdlatif Y. Al-Hamad, chairman of the directors of the fund, signed the agreement on behalf of the fund, which contributed to funding 50 priority projects in the economic and social sectors in the Kingdom between 1975 and 2019 with a total value of $2.084 billion, the statement said.

During the same period, the fund provided Jordan with a total of $43.627 million as grants, according to the statement.