AMMAN: The Jordan’s King Abdullah said that Jordan hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees, which is the biggest challenge for Jordan’s economy, His Majesty King Abdullah said, noting that this is “what keeps us up at night”.
“That is almost 20-21 per cent of our population. And when this year only 28-29 per cent of the refugee budget is being covered by the whole international community, and the rest we have to cover, it is pretty depressing, quite honestly,” His Majesty said in the interview.
He stressed that economy, rather than border security is the main challenge. “From a military and a strategic point of view, if you look at the map, ISIS [Daesh] is actually not near us. And that is not by accident. They are in the eastern part of Syria, up north. They are in, you know, 100 to 120 kilometres away from the Iraqi border,” the King noted.
