Source: Jordan Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.
Original press release available here.
AMMAN, November 11 – The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Suhair Al-Ali, witnessed a signing between the Secretary General of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation-Nasser Shraideh and the Development and Employment Fund General Director-Ali Al-Gzawi on a JD (2.5) million grant agreement to support the Microfinance Institutions (MFIs).
Throughout this grant, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) through the Enhanced Social and Economic Productivity Program, channeled a grant amount of JD (2.5) million to the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) to re-lend this amount to the MFIs with soft terms. During this signing ceremony, separate financing agreements were signed between DEF and MFIs (Ahli Microfinancing Company, Jordan Micro Credit Company, National Microfinance Bank, and Microfund for Women) for an amount of JD (500,000) for each institution.
During the signing ceremony, Al-Ali, indicated that this fund is one of the tools that the Government of Jordan employed to provide support to the Microfinance sector since its establishment. She added that this support aims at enabling MFIs to expand their lending services to reach poor areas and diverse their product range in an attempt to serve as many targeted people as possible. It is also intended to enhance the standards of living of disadvantaged people who are able to work and produce.
MOPIC Minister also added that the Government of Jordan will continue to support this important sector, due to its role in offering access to finance for the poor, particularly women. Furthermore, this sector continues to have special attention from H.M. Queen Rania Al-Abdullah.
Al-Ali emphasized that MOPIC has worked with the DEF to update the criteria that qualify MFIs to benefit from DEF on-lending facility to become that no less than (30%) of the borrowed amount shall be used to finance microentrepreneurs in poor areas outside the governorates, and to use the funds to finance start-ups or expand already existing projects.
It is worth mentioning that this JD (2.5) million represents the second grant of total amount of JD (5) million, which was channeled from MOPIC through DEF, to support MFIs.
The Minister highlighted the role that MOPIC is playing in supporting this sector and strengthening MFIs in line with the National Strategy for Microfinance, including the government’s efforts in finding other financing sources for MFIs to expand their service to reach targeted segments of population.
She also added that MOPIC has been working with both the French and Spanish governments to enable MFIs to gain access to soft financing, in order to scale-up their activities and expand outreach. In this respect, it is expected to reach a final agreement with both sides on the support mechanisms during the upcoming few months.
MFIs General Managers valued this initiative and expressed their appreciation to the support extended by the Jordanian Government to the sector.
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