According to the Jordan Times, the United States plans to guarantee Jordan’s government bonds in international markets, reducing the Kingdom’s borrowing costs, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jafar Hassan announced on Saturday 23 March.
Jafar Hassan holds a DES and a PhD in Political Science from the Graduate Institute, which he obtained in 1998 and 2001.
At a joint press with King Abdullah in Amman on Friday, Barack Obama said that his administration is working with Congress to provide loan guarantees to Jordan this year, Jafar Hassan announced.
Dr Hassan explained that US guarantees to Jordanian bonds on international markets will ensure that the country’s borrowing conditions remain similar to those on US sovereign bonds. Asked about the value of the guarantees, Hassan said it would depend on Jordan’s financial needs according to the fiscal reform programme, adding it could range between $1.25 billion and $2 billion to finance the deficit in the state budget.
The additional US support to Jordan, Jafar Hassan said, is related to the costs of hosting Syrian refugees. King Abdullah said at the press conference with Obama on Friday that there are over 460,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, accounting for 10% of the country’s population. Hosting this number of Syrian refugees is costing Jordan around $550 million annually, the King said, indicating that the figure is expected to double to reach one million by the end of the year. Dr Hassan called on the international community to take steps similar to the US to support Jordan during these difficult circumstances.
As Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Dr Jafar Hassan has served as Jordan’s Governor to the World Bank, The Islamic Development Bank, the Arab Development Fund as well as the European Bank for Reconstruction of Development. Dr Hassan previously worked as the Director of the International Affairs Department at the Royal Hashemite Court in Jordan. He began his career in the Jordanian Foreign Service in 1991. He recently announced that he will step down from his current position.
Extracts of this article originally appeared in the Jordan Times on 24 March.