On January 30, the Qatari-owned London-based Al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper carried the following report from Amman: “Jordanian economic experts confirmed that the suspension of the American aid, which will include Jordan and last 90 days, will increase the pressures on Jordanian economy. Clearly, many Jordanian sectors will be directly affected by the nonpayment of the salaries of those working in governmental programs funded by USAID..., noting that the latter agency is the one that hires them, signs the contracts with them, and pays their salaries out of the aid funds. At this level, a knowledgeable source told Al-Araby al-Jadeed that the government was not involved in these contracts and that the funded projects might stop for a while until the latter employees get their salaries.

“Meanwhile, options are being studied to continue with the work. It is worth mentioning at this level that many developmental and service projects in numerous sectors are funded by the American aid allocated to Jordan…, noting that their suspension almost coincided with American President Donald Trump’s announcement of his plan to displace a large number of Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, which was rejected on the official and popular levels in both countries… For his part, Jordanian economic expert Hussam Ayesh told Al-Araby al-Jadeed: “The suspension of the American aid will undoubtedly cause problems for the countries benefitting from it and will cause confusion in their budgets and their developmental plans for the coming year.”

“He added that the discontinuation of the work in projects funded by the American aid, which are being followed up on by USAID, will affect projects affiliated with many ministries and governmental institutions, not to mention the loss of employment by many people, even if temporarily, seeing as how their salaries were paid by the Agency that signed contracts with them. So, observers believed that Jordan should further rely on itself to reach the stage where it can cover its expenses in full…, thus reducing the negative effects of this decision. According to Ayesh, the American president was trying to change many rules that governed the aid policy while raising the slogan of America First. This will direct the destination and value of the aid, and the countries that benefit from them...”