AMMAN: Jordan on Thursday secured around $1.7 billion in grants and grant equivalents for its Syrian refugee response plan for this year and the coming two years.
According to the Jordan Compact, a statement issued by Jordanian stakeholders involved in the London donor conference, published by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Thursday, pledges made in London amount to around $700 million of grants in support of the Jordan Response Plan for 2016, the majority for priorities outlined in the resilience component of the plan targeting host communities.
“Additional pledges already made will contribute to the aim of providing around $700 million in grants for 2017 and 2018 too. Donors will support job creation programmes such as P4P for Syrian refugees and host communities,” the document said.
More pledges of around $300 million of grant or grant equivalents have already been made. More is expected, according to the compact document. Meanwhile, multilateral development banks have identified the potential to increase their financing from $800 million to $1.9 billion. It will be important that this funding is provided on as concessional terms as possible.
The document said that the international community commits to continuing to work with Jordan in the years ahead to manage any remaining financing gaps. The Jordan Response Plan sets Jordan’s needs to maintain its resilience in dealing with the refugee crisis at around $8 billion for the years 2016-2018.
The document stated that an integral part of incentives to businesses is access to European markets under easier terms than those currently available. It outlines a government plan to create jobs for Jordanians and Syrians.
The conference of donor nations raised $11 billion for Syrian humanitarian needs over the next four years, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday as the event in London drew to a close, Reuters reported. Cameron told a news conference that donors had pledged $6 billion for this year alone, and a further $5 billion to be spent by 2020.
