US grants Jordan 356.9 mln USD to support state budget

Jordan and the United States signed Monday an agreement granting 356.9 million U.S. dollars to support the Arab country's state budget. The agreement, which was signed between Jordan's ministry of planning and international cooperation and the U.S. embassy in Amman, entails providing grants to support several projects in Jordan in a variety of fields. The grants will be used to support major projects in the fields of health, education and water, among others, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website. About 184 million U.S. dollars of the total grants will be given to Jordan before the end of this year, according to the statement. The total U.S. assistance to Jordan in 2012 will be about 474 million U.S. dollars, Jordanian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jafar Hassan said in the statement.