Shraideh, UNHCR official discuss impact of Syrian refugee crisis

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nasser Shraideh and Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Raouf Mazou on Tuesday discussed the economic impacts of the Syrian crisis on host communities.

Shraideh reviewed some of the repercussions of hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees since 2011, which has added additional burdens to the budget, particularly on subsidised commodities and on the water, education, health and energy sectors, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The minister added that the “growing burden” of the Syrian crisis, as the Kingdom continues to host more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees, has “greatly exceeded the capabilities of the Kingdom’s already limited resources” and has become "a source of threat" to the development and national gains Jordan has realised over the past decades. 

He highlighted the importance of the international community’s “direct support” to the government to limit the Syrian refugee crisis’s impact on the Jordanian economy. 

Shraideh also referred to the government's efforts to update the 2023-2025 Jordanian Response Plan to the Syrian Crisis in partnership with UN organisations and donor countries, especially since this plan is considered a reference to determine the needs of the government to reduce the impacts of hosting Syrian refugees, support host communities and assist the Treasury. 

Mazou expressed his appreciation for the level of coordination and cooperation with the government, stressing the UN's keenness to help the government and urge the international community to extend necessary funds to enable Jordan fulfil its humanitarian role. 

He also praised the efforts of stakeholders in offering support and humanitarian aid and cooperating with the government to provide a decent level of services and secure the needs of the Syrian "brothers", according to humanitarian and international standards. 

In this regard, the UN official stressed the importance of such support to ensure proper coordination among all donors to guarantee support towards emergency priorities and needs in an efficient way.