Jordan, IFAD sign financing agreement worth $12.8m

AMMAN — Jordan and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on Wednesday signed a financing agreement (concessional loan and grants) for the financing of small-ruminant investment projects and combating poverty with a value of $12.8 million, according to a Planning Ministry statement.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury and IFAD’s President Gilbert F. Houngbo.

The new financing includes a concessional loan of $8.4 million and a $ 0.5 million in grant from the fund, while the Refugee and Incentive Facility and Rural Stabilisation (Farmers’ Initiative) will also fund a project through a grant worth $3.9 million, the statement said.

The Planning Minister noted that signing of the agreement comes as part of the development interventions in rural areas, aimed at mitigating poverty and enhancing food security in the Kingdom through improving Awassi sheep and making Jordan an exporter of it, which would lead to helping 11, 920 underprivileged families and increasing their sustainable productivity.

Fakhoury said that the project will be implemented by the Agriculture Ministry over the next six years in Mafraq, Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun, Madaba and Amman outskirts.

He explained that the project targets women and men, who own small cattle farms with the small-ruminants as their income and food safety source, in addition to Syrian refugees in host communities.

The minister said that the project will provide support to families at various levels in alleviating poverty, as well as entrepreneurs, who need microcredit to finance their enterprises, which will improve the situation of underprivileged and extremely underprivileged families.

The financing to these beneficiaries will be implemented by the Central Bank of Jordan in cooperation with local banks, the statement said.

Fakhoury praised the ties between Jordan and IFAD, which contributed to supporting the Kingdom’s development path.

Between 1981 and 2016, IFAD funded eight projects in Jordan worth $82.64 million including two grants that amounted to $900, 000, to support agricultural development and mitigating poverty in rural areas, according to the statement. 

The fund has also recently contributed to the financing of the Rural Economic Development and Employment Project by providing a loan and grant to finance the project with a value of 7,670 million special drawing units, equivalent to $11,340 million. The loan amount is 7,330 million special drawing units $10.84 million. The grant amounts to 340, 000 special drawing units, which is equivalent to $500, 000.