World Bank approves national strategy for kingdom

Poverty reduction and job creation are the priorities of an ad-hoc national strategy recently approved for Jordan by the World Bank, according to bank officials. “Our new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Jordan aims at expanding the opportunities and access of the poor and unemployed to participate and benefit more fully in the outcome of these reforms,” said World Bank Country Director for Jordan Joseph Saba. Bank officials say the strategy will allow Amman to implement urgent economic and political reforms while cushioning hardships for the poor, such as recent increases in oil prices. The CAS envisages a flexible lending programme of US $175 million to US $540 million over the next four years and includes programmes aimed at the development of private-sector investment, job creation and the enhancement of public services for the poor. “Our immediate work focuses on improving the quality of education, modernising institutions for private sector development and strengthening social protection,” said Saba. He went on to explain that CAS goals were designed to dovetail with Jordan’s existing development objectives as set out in the so-called “National Agenda”, a wide-ranging blueprint for economic and political reform, the implementation of which has become a top government priority. In a statement issued earlier this month, the World Bank noted that the country-assistance plan for Jordan had been prepared after extensive consultations with the government, local civil society institutions and the donor community. “The new assistance programme will seek to match the sophisticated challenges facing Jordan by focusing more squarely on the quality of institutional reforms; paying more attention to social and local development; and mainstreaming issues of gender, environment, water and energy,” explained Paolo Zacchia, CAS team leader for Jordan. With these aims in mind, partnerships have been established between the kingdom, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, the bank’s private sector lending arm which provides financial services to businesses investing in the developing world.