Under its initiative to support development in rural Jordan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has committed $21 million in the form of a loan to the Mafraq-based Al Jazeera Agricultural Company.

 

The added capital will be used by the company to fund its plans for expansion, including the construction of a new grain mill. The funds will also be allocated to implement systems that will cut the company’s fuel consumption by a minimum of 20% under the bank’s Finance and Technology Transfer Center for Climate Change program (FNTECC).

 

Because of the region’s climate, there is a growing demand for cost-efficient, energy saving technologies, according to the director of the EBRD’s Energy Efficiency and Climate Change team. “This investment will act as a regional demonstrator of the cost and environmental savings that are possible through installation of the right technologies,” she said.

 

The EBRD has been operating in Jordan since 2013, and since that time has invested a total of $422 million across 22 projects, providing SMEs with greater access to funding.