Jordan has entered talks with the International Monetary Fund to borrow up to $1.4 billion, Finance Minister Suleiman al-Hafez said on Saturday, to ease strained public finances in the absence of help from its richer Arab neighbors.
The request for funds comes as austerity policies are prompting street protests by citizens concerned about subsidy cuts and price hikes – a threat to stability in a kingdom that saw months of protests from early last year inspired by the "Arab Spring" uprisings.
Hafez told reporters Jordan would draw the funds from a new IMF lending instrument known as the "Precautionary and Liquidity Line," launched last November to give countries with economic policies the IMF deems relatively good a short-term liquidity window.
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