Donors approve $340m assistance to Jordan, Lebanon

AMMAN — The Concessional Financing Facility (CFF), an international initiative to address the impacts of the Syrian refugee crisis, has announced the first financing to support refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, a World Bank statement said.

The initiative was launched in April when eight nations and the European Commission pledged a package of more than $1 billion — $141 million in grants, $1 billion in soft loans, $500 million in guarantees — to a World Bank-led financing initiative in support of Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, as well as recovery and reconstruction across the region. 

The package, it was announced then, means that the new facility would be able to generate up to $800 million in concessional loans in the next year.

The facility has been made operational, supporting two projects totalling over $340 million, the statement, issued Thursday, said, following the CFF steering committee’s first meeting. 

The two projects will help generate jobs for over 200,000 Syrian refugees, and address the urgently needed rehabilitation of municipal infrastructure in Jordan, including the economic opportunities project and the Ain Ghazal wastewater plant, which will be supported by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, respectively, subject to approval by their respective boards. 

According to the statement, the objective of the CFF is to raise a total of $1 billion in grants over the next five years in order to provide Jordan and Lebanon with around $3-$4 billion in concessional financing to support refugees and host communities in key sectors such as jobs, education, health and infrastructure. 

The first steering committee meeting of the CFF in Beirut brought together representatives from the eight donors:  Japan, the UK, the US, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and the EU, along with additional observer countries, multilateral development banks and the UN. 

Jordan and Lebanon also presented their respective pipelines of projects that could potentially benefit from concessional financing through the facility, according to the statement. 

Secretary General at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation Saleh Kharabsheh was quoted as saying: “This facility will play a significant role in contributing to build the resilience of Jordan’s host communities and boost economic growth so that we are able to provide basic services and economic opportunities to both Jordanians and Syrian refugees.” 

Franck Bousquet, World Bank director for regional programmes and partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa, said it is critical to begin to finance projects to support vulnerable populations in Jordan and Lebanon.

“These countries have made enormous sacrifices to meet the global responsibility of providing refuge from conflict, and it is vital that the international community unite to provide the long-term support that will help them both withstand shocks and continue to develop and prosper.”

Conflicts and instability across the Middle East and North Africa region have caused over 15 million people to flee their homes over the past five years, the statement noted, representing the largest forced displacement crisis since World War II.