By Omar Obeidat JORDAN TIMES

AMMAN – Foreign economic assistance to Jordan for 2011 is expected to reach $2.8 billion, according to Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jafar Hassan.

He explained that foreign assistance directed to the Kingdom this year comes in several forms: Cash grants to support the budget directly, grants earmarked to support development projects, loan guarantees to the private sector and long-term, low-interest concessional loans.

Hassan told The Jordan Times in an interview on Monday that budget support grants to help the treasury finance several areas of government expenditures are set to reach $1.7 billion, including $1.4 billion from Saudi Arabia received earlier this year by the Ministry of Finance, in addition to $300 million expected from the US and EU.

Around $400 million of Jordan’s aid for 2011 is in the form of earmarked grants for development projects, which will finance projects in a variety of sectors including water, education and business development.

These funds, Hassan stressed, are tied to specific projects and cannot be spent on anything else.

“Today the donor community is also increasingly interested in channelling support directly to the private sector to enhance growth prospects,” he said, adding that in light of this trend, the US, through its Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), as well as other donors including the EU have designed assistance programmes that provide loan guarantees to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).