Gov’t spends 97% of GCC grant

AMMAN — The government spent some 97 per cent of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grant and implemented 112 per cent of the projects planned, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour announced Tuesday.

Chairing a ministerial meeting to check on progress of projects funded by the GCC grant up to November 22 this year, Ensour said that a total of JD602 million was allocated to carry out the schemes, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. 

The premier said that the percentages of project implementation were according to a schedule set by the government, which spent nearly all the money donated by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

In 2011, the GCC allocated $5 billion to finance development projects in Jordan during the 2012-2016 period. The grant is divided between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, with each country paying $1.25 billion. Qatar has yet to honour its commitment.

The government was committed to spending the donated funds with the “highest levels of accuracy and integrity”, the prime minister said, voicing appreciation for the Saudi, Emirati and Kuwaiti governments’ support for the Kingdom “under the present difficult circumstances”.

He also gave credit for the progress made in implementation to ministries and public institutions, attributing the success to their “sound management” of their respective shares in the projects financed by the GCC grant, Petra added.

Also on Tuesday, Ensour met with Saudi Development Fund (SDF) Deputy Chairman and Managing Director Yousef Bin Ibrahim Al Bassam and expressed Jordan’s gratitude for Saudi Arabia’s support directed to development projects and to help the Kingdom face economic and social challenges.

Bassam said the fund’s cooperation with the Kingdom is going much better than with many of the 80 countries SDF works with, Petra reported.