AMMAN, JORDAN – The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, signed on Sunday ,Sep 6th 2015, a $3 billion framework agreement for the cooperation with the Government of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, represented by the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry, where ITFC seeks to be the first partner that provides comprehensive financial solutions to the Kingdom’s strategic sectors. The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry, in Amman. The agreement was signed by H.E. Eng. Imad Fakhoury, Planning and International Cooperation Minister, representing the Jordanian Government, and Dr. Waleed Al-Wohaib, CEO ITFC.
During the ceremony, H.E. Eng. Imad Fakhoury thanked ITFC for its cooperation with Jordan, which has been experiencing tough financial and economic conditions arising from the turmoil in the region. He emphasized that this financing will be allocated for the import of strategic commodities like crude oil, oil derivatives, liquefied gas and foodstuff such as wheat, barley, sugar and rice, and the facility will be utilized upon requirement by the relevant government entity with the 3 years .
From his side, Dr. Waleed Al-Wohaib stressed on ITFC’s continuous dedication for the socio-economic development of Jordan. He also added “ITFC is trying its best to align its support with other economic promotion programs, designed by ITFC Member Countries to guarantee reaching the highest developmental impact. This is clearly shown in ITFC’s huge contribution in financing these two strategic sector (Food and Energy), which are considered to be main strategic sectors to the Jordanian Government”. Moreover, he clarified that this financing “will contribute to achieving one of the most important goals for ITFC, which is enhancing Intra-OIC trade among the member countries”
It is worth mentioning that, since its inception in 2008, ITFC has approved several trade financing operations with a total of USD596.5 million in favor of Jordan , including lines of financing for local banks, trade financing operations for the private sector , and two trade financing operations for the imports of petroleum products in favor of the Government with a total amount of USD 538 million. Also it’s worth mentioning that the trade financing for Jordan provided by IDB before the establishment of ITFC amounted US$828.5 million which results into total of US$1,425 million trade financing granted to Jordan by IDBG.