Saudi to hand Jordan $487m development fund

[Arabian Legend]

Saudi to hand Jordan $487m development fund

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Saudi Arabia has pledged a US$487m assistance package to help support new development projects in Jordan.
The first US$125m will be transferred soon while the remainder will be included in the 2013 budget, Jordan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said in comments published by state-run Petra news agency.
An additional US$250m deposit will be transferred into a special account for the Saudi Development Fund as part of a GCC-wide pledge to pump US$5bn into the Hashemite Kingdom, it added.
At a GCC summit in December 2011, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar agreed to extend US$5bn over a five-year period to support development projects in Jordan, with each state contributing US$1.25bn.

Kuwait transferred the first tranche of the GCC countries’ support for this year in October.
Jordan, which has one of the smallest economies in the Arab world and imports 96 percent of its fuel needs, finances its budget and current-account deficits with foreign investment and grants from the Gulf states, the EU and the US.
The kingdom’s public debt-to-GDP ratio increased to about 64 percent by end-2011. Its fiscal deficit could rise to JD2.93bn (US$4bn) this year if economic conditions in the country do not improve, the Jordan Times recently reported, citing Minister of Finance Suleiman Hafez.
The kingdom’s debt would rise to JD17.5bn by the end of the year from JD14.3bn, said Hafez.
The overall budget deficit has increased to about six percent of GDP in 2011 as a result of commodity subsidies, other social spending and borrowing by the government on behalf of Jordan’s National Electric Power Company to cover more costly imported fuel oil used during extensive periods of interrupted natural gas supply when saboteurs attacked pipelines in Egypt over the past year and a half.
The government accumulated over JD2.8bn in debt because it had to produce electricity from fuel rather than gas as a result of the disruption of supply from Egypt.
“Jordan remains highly dependent on commodity imports like oil and grains, tourism receipts, remittances and FDI flows, and external grants,” the International Monetary Fund said in a report in April.
The kingdom “is also facing risks from a further deterioration in its terms of trade, unrest in neighbouring countries, and the prospect of further disruptions to natural gas pipeline flows from Egypt,” it added.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-hand-jordan-487m-development-fund-481263.html

 

[JUBA]

God bless our Jordanian brothers

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

It's $785 million for development projects plus $250 million deposit in the central bank. I was 100% that KSA and GCC would never leave Jordan in such hard times no matter how much they have different point of views regarding the Syrian crisis.

Thank you KSA...

 

[W.11]

inshallah revolution inshallah

 

[national_crisis]

inshallah revolution inshallah

Lol...next Suriya!

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

inshallah revolution inshallah

Lol...next Suriya!

Wow, the brothers wish that Jordan turn into another Syria... Now I understand the misery you are going through, Allah will not change you unless you change yourselves guys. Look after your country first which is already an another Syria and forget about other countries internal business.

 

[W.11]

Wow, the brothers wish that Jordan turn into another Syria... Now I understand the misery you are going through, Allah will not change you unless you change yourselves guys. Look after your country first which is already an another Syria and forget about other countries internal business.

la haul wala kuwat, you should speak nice words to your brother

inshallah revolution winds are blowing, ill be in jordan to free our arab brothers mashallah

Saudi to hand Jordan $487m development fund

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is this zionist symbol on njordan flag??

la haul wala kuwat

revolution revolution revolution

our brothers are misguided!!

 

[United]

Peace and blessing to our Jordanian brothers.

 

[W.11]

And why you like to see a revolution in Jordan? and BTW, the last thing I would do is to brother an ignorant person, all he wants to see is a revolution without having a slightest clue why there should be a revolution...

I don't want this brotherhood.

i was just kidding all the time chill

 

[Armstrong]

And why you like to see a revolution in Jordan? and BTW, the last thing I would do is to brother an ignorant person, all he wants to see is a revolution without having a slightest clue why there should be a revolution...

I don't want this brotherhood.

Of course we do - We want you to be the next King !

I will fight for you My Lord...I will die for you, My Lord !

So how much of the Multi-Millions are you pocketing ?

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Of course we do - We want you to be the next King !

I will fight for you My Lord...I will die for you, My Lord !

So how much of the Multi-Millions are you pocketing ?

Finally, the recognition I deserve!!!, actually YAS the king is a thief and a gambler, we all want him down in the deepest and darkest hole, a blank one...

AB, the rightful king is coming to the rightful place....


Very important note:

Plz, guys contact via this link if I didn't show up here tomorrow:

Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide

 

[national_crisis]

la haul wala kuwat, you should speak nice words to your brother

inshallah revolution winds are blowing, ill be in jordan to free our arab brothers mashallah



is this zionist symbol on njordan flag??

la haul wala kuwat

revolution revolution revolution

our brothers are misguided!!

Once upon a time they were BFF

The process of reconciliation between Syria and Saudi Arabia took another step forward yesterday with the arrival in Damascus of King Abdullah for talks with Bashar Assad, the Syrian president. For years, Riyadh's relationship with Damascus has been poisoned by a falling-out between the countries' rulers. But King Abdullah's visit is a sign that the storm cloud of Saudi-Syria antagonism appears to have cleared.


Lebanon will probably top the agenda of the talks. Syria's and Saudi Arabia's competing ambitions there led the two into a proxy struggle for influence over Beirut, with Saudi Arabia backing the March 14 alliance of Saad al Hariri against the Hizbollah-led opposition bloc, supported by Syria. By 2008 that struggle had erupted into violent street battles in the Lebanese capital. But tensions then subsided and the Syrians helped broker a political deal that saw peaceful, successful Lebanese elections held this summer.

Damascus pointedly did not interfere in the ballot, which was won by the Saudi-funded Hariri group, easing the way for a wider rapprochement. The Saudi-Syria contest also reflects a broader competition for regional dominance between the United States and Iran. Saudi has long been a key ally of Washington, while Syria and Tehran, both backers of Hizbollah, have similarly maintained a close relationship for decades.

With the United States and its Arab allies increasingly alarmed by Iranian nuclear ambitions, they have stepped up diplomatic re-engagement with Syria, at least in part as an attempt to ease Damascus out of Tehran's sphere of influence. This year, the United States said it would return an ambassador to Syria, filling a post that has been vacant since 2005. Saudi Arabia quickly followed suit, announcing in July that it too would dispatch an ambassador to Damascus, a position withdrawn in 2008.

The turnaround in the relationship was underlined last month when Mr Assad made a short visit to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi monarch's visit to Damascus can also be seen as a step towards the closer Arab co-operation that King Abdullah publicly urged at an Arab League summit in Kuwait in January. His plea came amid deep divisions in Arab unity following Israel's devastating 22-day military assault on the Gaza Strip. Syria and Qatar openly supported Hamas, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia favoured Fatah, criticising what they viewed as Hamas's provocations of Israel.

King Abdullah is likely to tell Mr Assad that "it's a good time to come back to the Arab fold and act like an Arab state", said Mustafa Alani, a regional analyst at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai. That, he added, "requires some kind of divorce between Syria and Iran on the strategic level". Riyadh along with Cairo has been alarmed in the past year by what they regard as Iran's increasingly aggressive meddling in Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq. In their eyes, Iran's closest Arab ally, Syria, abets this Iranian influence. "For Syria and Iran to have a strong relationship is not the problem," said one Saudi official who declined to be identified because he is not authorised to publicly discuss the matter. The issue, he added, is that "Arabs should serve Arab national interests".

But if King Abdullah's reciprocal trip is aimed at loosening Syria's links with Iran, some believe that Riyadh and Washington may be disappointed. Although Syria has stressed it wants close links with Saudi Arabia, officially at least Damascus insists it does not have to choose between Riyadh and Tehran. "Syria is not looking to trade one alliance for another," said Umran Zaubie, a Syrian lawyer and member of the governing Baath Party. "Each relationship is separate and Syria can have close ties with Saudi and Iran at the same time, as has been the case in the past.

"Iran does not interfere with Syria's links to the Arab world." That view is not universally held inside Syria. An independent political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his comments, said a stronger relationship between Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United States would affect Damascus's links with Tehran. "Iran is a major power and no one can ignore that," he said. "If there is to be a meaningful peace process, it will have to take the Iranians into account. But although Syria cannot prevent Iran's role it can water down the influence it has.

"I'm not sure if trying to pull Syria away from Iran will be successful, probably not; but Syria is pragmatic and is gambling on various outcomes." Syria is adamant the diplomatic thaw between Damascus and Riyadh has not resulted from changes in its policy or attitude, but is rather a function of a new, more conciliatory US approach to the Middle East under Barack Obama, the president. "The US decided to resume the language of dialogue and engagement," Mr Zaubie said. "The old American policies in the Middle East and towards Iran have failed.

"We are at the beginning of a new era in Syrian-American ties and that affects many of the region's powers' positions. The political circles in Saudi have felt this change." The Saudis can argue, Mr Alani said, that the Syrians risk being left out in the cold if the Obama administration pursues closer relations with Iran and the two strike a bargain giving Iran a bigger role in the region. At that point, Mr Alani argued, "Syria will lose its value for Iran".

Although the king's visit to Damascus is a clear indicator of progress, one Syrian commentator, Mazen Bilal, cautioned that Saudi Arabia may have already left it too late to moderate Iran's strength. "Saudi is worried about Iranian power eclipsing its own position as a major regional power, and that would leave the major positions in the hands of Iran on one side and Israel on the other," he said. "That may have already happened. It might be that Riyadh has already been bypassed."

Still, Arab unity is very important, Mr Alani said, and "this is why King Abdullah is going the extra mile with Syria". Some analysts say Saudi Arabia would like to see a revival of the traditional triangle of moderate Arab states - Syria-Egypt-Saudi Arabia - to create a more solid front against Iranian interference in the region. The most public sign of a thaw in the frosty relations came last month with Mr Assad's surprise appearance at the formal inauguration of a new Saudi graduate university near Jeddah. The king wanted the gala opening of his new university to be a showcase of Arab unity. After Syria initially indicated it would send a senior education official to the event, King Abdullah called Mr Assad and urged him to come himself. In a display of hospitality, King Abdullah kept Mr Assad near his side for much of the festivities, which were broadcast nationally.

 

[JonAsad]

Why the true decendants of Prophet Muhammad tribe are in Jordan and not in Saudi Arabia?-

 

[Al-harbi]

It's $785 million for development projects plus $250 million deposit in the central bank. I was 100% that KSA and GCC would never leave Jordan in such hard times no matter how much they have different point of views regarding the Syrian crisis.

Thank you KSA...

you are our brothers and Jordanian people deserve more

God blesse Jordan.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Why the true decendants of Prophet Muhammad tribe are in Jordan and not in Saudi Arabia?-

It's a long story...