Signing a Loan Agreement to contribute to financing Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah LNG Port in the amount of 18,200,000 Kuwaiti dinars and a Grant Agreement to finance the completion of the project for the Rehabilitation of Old Buildings and The Development of New Departments in Al-Bashir Hospital, and the task of founding the King Abdullah University Hospital to contribute to the crisis response plan for Syrian refugees, with an amount of $20 million in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Today, at the headquarters of the Kuwait Fund, A loan and a grant agreement was signed between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, according to which the Fund provides a loan of 18,200,000 Kuwaiti dinars (equivalent to about 60 million US dollars), to contribute to the financing of the Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad LNG Port Project. Also, a grant of $20 million to complete the project to rehabilitate old buildings and create new departments in Al-Bashir Hospital and founding the King Abdullah University Hospital project to contribute to the crisis response plan for Syrian refugees.



This loan is part of the Economic Development Reform Program in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which includes the Kuwait Fund's commitment to a five-year lending program, starting from the year 2019/2020, with a total value of $500 million to contribute to financing infrastructure projects, including school construction projects in Jordan, according to what was agreed upon at the Quartet Summit meeting.



The loan and grant agreements were signed on behalf of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan by His Excellency Mr. Nasser Al-Shraideh - Minister of Planning and International Cooperation in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and it was signed on behalf of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development by Mr. Marwan Abdullah Thunayan Al-Ghanem – Director General.



The loan achieves the seventh goal of the sustainable development goals, which seeks to "ensure access to affordable, modern and reliable energy services for all," and the ninth goal on establishing a good quality and sustainable infrastructure, as well as achieving the seventeenth goal, which seeks to "revitalize the global partnership for achieving development sustainable."



The grant contributes directly to achieving the third goal of the sustainable development goals, which aims to good health and well-being, and complete the seventeenth goal, which seeks to "revitalize the global partnership for achieving sustainable development."



The loan project aims to support the national economy of Jordan and achieve its strategic objectives of addressing the instability of the primary energy supply system that the country is suffering from by importing liquefied natural gas to provide an additional source to meet the current and expected demand for natural gas, while achieving a continuous flow of gas in case The interruption of other sources, at competitive prices that help reduce the costs of producing electric power. The project also aims to enhance logistical capabilities and develop the Aqaba Economic Zone.



The loan project consists of rehabilitating the berth of the LNG port and making the necessary modifications to it, building a shore gasification station to convert gas from a liquid to a gaseous state on a land of an appropriate area allocated for the project within the Aqaba port, and linking the station to a pipeline to transport gas to electric power plants. The implementation of the project is expected to take about three years, ending in 2023.



The total loan costs including reserves, taxes, and interest during implementation, are estimated at 58 million Jordanian dinars, equivalent to about 24.8 million Kuwaiti dinars. About 19.8 million Kuwaiti dinars are in foreign currencies, representing approximately 80.0% of the total project costs. The Fund's loan covers about 73% of the entire project costs. In contrast, the Jordanian government will cover the rest of the project costs and any other costs related to contracts and any increase that may occur during implementation.



The term of the loan is 22 years, including four years grace, so that the loan is repaid.

Thirty-six semi-annual installments, the first of which is due on the first date on which interest or other costs are due under the loan agreement, after the expiry of the said grace period, and that the interest on the loan is at 2.0% annually, in addition to 0.5% annually to meet the costs of management and implementation services for the loan agreement.



The grant aims to contribute to supporting the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in responding to the needs of Syrian refugees, as the Kuwait Fund contributed to 3 previous contributions on behalf of the State of Kuwait to respond to the needs of Syrian refugees in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Medical departments in other hospitals.



It should be noted that the aforementioned grant comes within the commitments of the State of Kuwait at the third Brussels Conference to support the future of Syria and the region, held in the Belgian capital, Brussels (12-14 March 2019) with an amount of 300 million US dollars to support Syrian refugees. Within the framework of this initiative and as part of the State of Kuwait's pledge, it was The Kuwait Fund's share of it is 127.5 million US dollars. The Board of Directors of the Fund, in its session held on 10/03/2019, agreed to allocate an amount of 30 million US dollars to contribute to projects to support Syrian refugees in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.



The Kuwait Fund loan referred to represents the twenty-ninth loan provided by the Fund to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as the Fund previously provided to Jordan 28 loans with a total value of about 191.6 million Kuwaiti dinars, equivalent to about 651 million US dollars, of which about 170.6 million Kuwaiti dinars were withdrawn. Of which, approximately 91.3 million Kuwaiti dinars were paid, or 55% of the total withdrawn, as of 11/11/2021. The Fund provided three technical assistance and four grants with a total value of about 3.5 million Kuwaiti dinars, of which about 3.1 million were withdrawn. Also, the State of Kuwait provides one grant in the form of Arabian Gulf States (GCC) amounting 1.250 billion US dollars and it is withdrawn completely.