Fakhoury visits Tafileh to raise awareness of gov’t loans — ministry

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury on Monday chaired a meeting in Tafileh to raise awareness of soft loans and financing tools available to local enterprises, the ministry said.

The meeting aimed to familiarise civil society institutions, women and youths in Tafileh, 180km southwest of Amman, with the loan programmes available from national credit corporations to guarantee simplified financing to small and medium enterprises, the ministry said in a statement. 

National credit corporations in the governorate include the Employment and Development Fund, the Agricultural Credit Corporation, the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation, Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation andIRADAH Business Development, Fakhoury noted.

The minister revealed that the government has allocated JD71 million for 2016 projects in Tafileh, which has a population of 96,291.

To enhance local productivity, the ministry has carried out project interventions valued at JD2.5 million, while JD6 million has been allocated to loan windows for unemployed graduates, in cooperation with the Employment and Development Fund, the minister said.  

The ministry has prepared a list of priority projects related to infrastructure worth JD6 million which were not listed in the 2016 government budget, he added. 

Meanwhile, finance has been made available for promising sectors in the governorate, like agriculture and tourism, and the ministry has studied the economic feasibility of investment opportunities in these sectors, Fakhoury explained. 

The minister’s visit was in line with His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives to the government to conduct field visits to get acquainted with local issues and demands.

In recent weeks, civil society institutions have raised a number of demands during field visits by government officials, he said.   

These include the exemption of cooperative societies from income tax, establishing markets at tourist sites for handicrafts produced by civil society organisations and creating a financial programme for charitable and cooperative societies, Fakhoury added. 

The most important issues in Tafileh were related to poverty, unemployment, job creation and support for small and medium enterprises and productive sectors, the minister noted.