Nayrouz News Agency : Jordanian banks received around 4,088 requests at a value of JD470 million to benefit from the Central Bank of Jordan’s (CBJ) programme to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as of May 28, the CBJ announced on Sunday.  

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the bank said that so far, it has accepted a total of 2,341 requests — 57.3 per cent of the total submitted requests — at a value of JD233 million, while the rest of the applications are being considered.

The JD500-million programme was launched to support SMEs in covering their operational costs and to protect existing job opportunities, a move "stemming from the bank’s keenness to support the sustainability of SMEs amid the COVID-19 crisis”, the statement added.

The average value of approved loans amounted to about JD99,500, the bank said, noting that 73 per cent of the approved loans valued less than JD250,000.

Regarding the distribution of loans approved within the JD500-million programme among various sectors, the wholesale and retail sector received 34.6 per cent of the approved loans, followed by the manufacturing sector at 20.5 per cent and the education sector at 7.7 per cent, the statement added.

The CBJ noted that the value of loans offered within the programme to cover salaries and workers’ wages reached 50 per cent of the approved applications, at a value of approximately JD16 million, serving 52,043 employees who are still working.

In addition to the JD500-million programme, the CBJ has provided facilities valued at JD26.9 million, offered through the JD1.2-billion soft financing programme, which has contributed in providing salaries for about 26,000 workers, bringing the total for salaries to JD141.9 million, that served nearly 78,043 workers on the job, Petra added.

The CBJ’s JD1.2-billion soft financing programme has so far contributed to financing 1,215 projects at a value of around JD860 million, creating around 12,000 new job opportunities across the Kingdom.