jordan pulse -
The World Bank confirmed that its active portfolio in Jordan includes 16 projects worth $3.9 billion in the form of loans, soft financing, and grants by the end of last January, explaining that this portfolio has expanded to support the economic reform agenda in Jordan, enhance climate action and resilience, and enhance its response in... Confronting and recovering from the Corona virus.
According to the data, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development used soft resources to support Jordan’s response to the Syrian crisis, through an exceptional allocation from the International Development Association of $200 million and the establishment of the Global Program for Soft Financing Facility, and it was relied upon to help support Jordan as a host of refugees through many projects.
The bank explained that its strategic partnership framework with Jordan (2017-2023) identified the basic pillars of the bilateral partnership in order to enhance private sector-led growth and improve job opportunities for all. Improving quality and equity in service delivery; And support an effective response and resilient recovery from the Corona crisis.
The Bank is working to complement its programs in Jordan through advisory services and analyzes designed to provide important evidence-based economic and social diagnostics, which serve as a public good available to all stakeholders. This also includes semi-annual economic updates, the latest of which is the Jordan Economic Update for Fall 2023, as well as climate action. Including the Jordan Climate and Development Report 2022.
The World Bank also manages the Jordan Inclusive Growth and Economic Opportunity Trust Fund ($72.8 million), which includes contributions from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Offices of the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands, which has funded 32 A grant implemented by the bank to support private sector growth and job creation.
The World Bank's portfolio of active projects in Jordan includes programs that support catalytic investments for youth and employment opportunities, education, agricultural resilience, water sector efficiency, and cash support for the poorest and most needy people.
The bank's active projects in Jordan include 9 sectors: In financing, competitiveness and inclusion, the Bank launched 4 projects with the government, the first being economic opportunities for Jordanians and Syrian refugees with a value of $349 million, a project to finance innovative start-ups with a value of $50 million, and a youth, technology and jobs project with a value of $200 million, in addition to a support project for the Support and Development Fund. The industry in Jordan is worth $85 million.
In the macroeconomic, trade and investment sector; The Bank and the government launched a $900 million comprehensive, transparent, and climate-smart investment financing program in Jordan, in addition to $450 million in joint financing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
As for the health, nutrition, and population sector, the Bank and the Jordanian government launched the Corona Pandemic Emergency Response Project worth $70 million, in addition to a grant worth $13.75 million from the Trust Fund.
In the education sector, a program to support education sector reform worth $229 million was launched, in addition to $70.9 million from the Global Soft Financing Facilities Programme.
In the social protection and jobs sector, the Bank and the government launched an emergency cash transfer project to respond to the Corona pandemic with funds amounting to one billion dollars, and a project to support employment and skills in the private sector (tasheel) worth $112 million.
In the urban development and resilience sector, a municipal services and social resilience project in urban areas was launched at a value of $102 million, while in the field of governance, it was launched; A project to strengthen the correctional administration in Jordan, worth $15.8 million.
The World Bank and the government launched 3 projects in the water, energy and environment sectors; The first is a project to phase out hydrochlorofluorocarbons that deplete the ozone layer, worth $3.9 million, and an electricity sector efficiency program worth $250 million, in addition to a water sector efficiency project in Jordan worth $200 million, in addition to $50 million from the Global Concessional Financing Facility Program, and $50 million. Dollars from the French Development Agency.
In the agriculture and food sector, a project to explore high-value agricultural methods that achieve social inclusion and rationalize water use was launched with a grant worth one million dollars from the Trust Fund, in addition to the program to enhance the agricultural sector’s resilience, value chain development and innovation, worth $95.6 million.
The World Bank Group also works through the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), as the agency’s active guarantees in Jordan are the third largest portfolio in the Middle East and North Africa region, amounting to $545.8 million in active guarantees as of September 30, 2023.
The volume of financing commitments reached During the past year, the World Bank in Jordan provided $946 million divided into 6 programs: It is a program to enhance the agricultural sector’s resilience and develop the value chain and innovation, a second financing for the program to finance comprehensive, transparent and climate-sensitive investments, the electricity sector efficiency program, the water sector efficiency project, a fourth financing for the municipal services and social resilience project in urban areas, and a grant for the reform management strengthening project.
The agency's current portfolio in public-private partnerships consists of three projects: the expansion of a wastewater treatment plant northeast of Amman in Samra, a thermal power plant in Zarqa Governorate, and investments in the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of Queen Alia International Airport.