Capital Bank of Jordan, announced signing an agreement with the Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan (Int@j) which aims to remove challenges, provide necessary funding for companies operating in the ICT sector, attract investors to invest in this sector, and enhance its contribution to the national economy, as well as improve the competitiveness of Jordanian companies in the global market.

The signing of the agreement follows the Central Bank of Jordan's decision to extend the scope of its program of granting medium-term advances to economic sectors including the ICT sector.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Haytham Kamhiyah, General Manager of Capital Bank and Mr. Khaled Hudhud, int@j CEO, in the presence of Dr. Bashar Hawamdeh, int@j Chairman, and members of the executive management of the two parties.

Commenting on this, Kamhiyah said, 'Today we are proud to be the first bank to sign an agreement with int@j Association and contribute to supporting this sector by removing challenges and providing the necessary funding.

Kamhiyah added, 'This step by the Central Bank of Jordan promotes Jordan's ICT sector as a regional hub. The importance of the sector lies in its contribution to the national economy and alleviation of unemployment.'

Kamhiyah also mentioned 'Capital Bank is one of the first Jordanian banks to promote the Central Bank of Jordan's advances program for various sectors, including the industrial, renewable energy, tourism and agricultural sectors, at preferential rates and long repayment terms.' He also indicated that, 'the Bank facilitates access to loan guarantees through local institutions such as Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation, and international ones such as OPIC.'

For his part, Hudhud pointed out that 'Since the end of last year, int@j has been working on identifying the challenges facing the ICT sector in terms of access to finance. For that, we have established relationships with a number of local banks, regulatory and supervisory bodies and international financial agencies to facilitate access to a set of banking products and special programs to finance IT companies.'

Hudhud added, 'The signing of this agreement with Capital Bank aims to ensure the access of companies operating in ICT sector to incentives and preferential interest rates offered by the Central Bank. Under the agreement the Bank would provide feedback to int@j on the supply and demand challenges facing those companies in general, as regards to obtaining the necessary funding, thus enabling int@j to continue to mobilize challenges among stakeholders to overcome such challenges.'

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