Amman: A top US official said today that Washington has given $100 million (Dh367.29 million) in aid to Jordan to help host tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled the unrest back home and taken refuge in the kingdom.
US ambassador to Jordan, E. Jones, said that the US aid will also help Jordan meet its growing energy needs in light of the repeated cut-offs occurring from unstable gas supplies from Egypt.
He said the aid will address “the strains on the national budget as a result of the repeated disruption of the Egyptian natural gas, and especially the added cost of providing services and basic commodities to those fleeing the appalling violence in Syria.”
“Nowhere outside of Syria are the effects of the Syrian regime’s violence felt as acutely as in Jordan,” he said at a joint news conference with Jordanian Planning Minister Jaafar Hassan.
Earlier aid package
The latest aid comes over and above the $660 million approved by Washington in December as military and economic aid to Jordan, which has received $2.4 billion from Washington in the past five years.
Debt-ridden Jordan, a major beneficiary of US aid, is hosting more than 140,000 Syrians, and the kingdom is building more camps to house the refugees.
The energy-poor country has expressed concerns that cuts in gas supplies from Egypt could cost the kingdom more than $2 billion in 2012.
