Ammon News - JT
The Central Bank of Jordan on Wednesday received an official notice from the Saudi Development Fund confirming the transfer of $250 million (around JD178 million) to Jordan, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Jordan will be entitled to use this deposit to spend on agreed-upon development projects in 2013, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said in remarks last month.

The deposit is independent of the $1.25 billion Saudi Arabia will extend Jordan, as part of the $5 billion Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grant.

During a GCC summit in December 2011, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar decided to extend $5 billion over a five-year period to support development schemes in Jordan.

Each of these four nations will pay $1.25 billion.

The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation on Sunday unveiled the first four projects that will be funded by the first instalment of the Saudi contribution to the GCC grant, around $487 million.

Between 1975 and 2010, the Saudi Development Fund financed 18 development projects in Jordan through soft loans totalling around $315.5 million.