JEDCO grants $724,973 to support export of local industrial SMEs

AMMAN — The Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) on Tuesday signed 13 agreements through the programme “Supporting industrial SMEs to export for the first time” to support local industrial small- and medium-sized enterprises in Amman, Irbid , Zarqa and Maan governorates to export with a total cost of JD814,500, of which JD514,000 is JEDCO’s support.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Al Ali, who is also JEDCO’s board chairman, said during the online meeting that supporting economic and industrial sectors and activities is part of His Majesty King Abdullah’s instructions to the government to turn challenges into opportunities.

Efforts will be devoted in the next phase to achieve economic recovery through clear programmes with specific timeframes that include measurable, evaluation and follow-up steps that have a “tangible impact” in reducing the repercussions of the economic consequences of the pandemic, accelerating growth, increasing the competitiveness of productive sectors, increasing exports ratios and creating new job opportunities, according to a JEDCO statement.

JEDCO CEO Bashar Zu’bi, said that the idea of ??this programme came up because of the limited number of Jordanian SMEs that have high readiness to export, according to the Jordanian customs figures, the number of companies that export continuously for the last three years and whose exports are more than JD200,000, totals 369, of which 237 SMEs’ annual exports do not exceed JD500,000, the statement said.

This programme targets local industrial SMEs that have not exported during the previous three years, and their exports are less than JD200,000 and have a high added value in all governorates of the Kingdom, the statement said.

Financial support will be provided to 13 industrial SMEs to increase the export base of Jordanian SMEs by providing financial grants up to JD40,000 for each company, with a financing rate of 70 per cent of the total project cost.

Regarding the mechanism of receiving and evaluating applications to benefit from the programme, it started on February 20, 2020 and ended on April 30, 2020, as 143 electronic applications were received, and a deadline was given to all companies until the end of June 2020 to provide JEDCO with the required documents, in line with the deadline set by the Jordanian government to companies to submit financial statements for the year of 2019 and issue professional licences and other documents due to the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the preliminary data of the selected SMEs, the programme will contribute in creating 60 new job opportunities.