Jordan, EU to sign loan deal today

AMMAN — Jordan and the EU will sign a soft loan agreement on Tuesday worth 180 million euros (around JD177 million) as macro-financial assistance, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ibrahim Saif said Monday. 

The agreement of the medium-term loan will be signed in Brussels by Minister of Finance Umayya Toukan and Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan Ziad Fariz on behalf of the Jordanian government, the minister said after he signed a long-term loan agreement with Japan worth JD82 million. 

With the loans from the EU and Japan, Jordan have secured financing in concessional loans worth around JD437 million (around $617 million) in just four days as the World Bank on Thursday approved a $250 million to support the Kingdom’s budget to ease financial strains caused by the influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. 

According to the EU, Jordan would be the first partner country in the Southern neighbourhood to benefit from such exceptional financial instrument.

The EU assistance would be disbursed over two years.