Jordan calls for increased aid to Syria response plan

AMMAN — As funding for the 2017 Jordan Response Plan, aimed at helping the Kingdom overcome challenges ensuing from the Syrian crisis, has only reached around 20 per cent of the required amount, the government has called for increased aid to adequately address the “huge” refugee burden.

Funding requirements for the 2017 plan stands at $2.65 billion, but total funding reached only $528.3 million or 19.9 per cent of the total amount required by the end of October, according to figures released by the Jordan Response Platform for the Syria Crisis.

Of the total funds for the plan during the first 10 months of this year, $134.7 million was allocated to supporting refugees, $57.6 million for budget support and $33 million earmarked as resilience support.

"There is a need for increasing the aid to the Kingdom in this regard as the burden is huge," a government official told The Jordan Times on Sunday.

"Jordan must be supported as we are doing this on behalf of the international community," the official said over the phone.

According to the platform's website, until the end of October, $165 million of the total funding was for the education sector, $47 million for the energy sector, and $79 million for social protection.

A total of $21 million was dedicated for local governance and municipal services, $15 million for food security and $118 million for water and sanitations projects, among other targeted sectors.

Germany topped the list of countries committing funds to the plan with $181.4 million provided by the end of October. The UK came second with $45.6 million and Japan was third with $43.7 million.

The EU came fourth with $38.3 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with $27.2 million, France ($22 million), the US ($20 million), Norway ($11.4 million), Switzerland ($9 million), Canada ($8.6 million), Denmark ($8.6 million), the Netherlands ($6.3 million), Italy ($4.3 million), Finland ($4.1 million) and Kuwait ($2.3 million). 

The rest of the amount was shared between Spain, Australia, Qatar, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Taiwan, Belgium, Poland, South Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and other countries.