His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday met with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde.  He also met with US Treasury Secretary Joseph Lew.

At his meeting with the US Treasury Secretary, King Abdullah discussed financial and economic cooperation between Jordan and the US.

His Majesty expressed Jordan’s appreciation of the US government’s support for Jordan, especially for its recent issuance of $1.25 billion in US-guaranteed Eurobonds.

The Treasury Secretary asserted his country’s continued economic assistance to Jordan to help it address the repercussions of the Syrian conflict.

At his meeting with Lagarde, discussions focused on the country’s relations with the IMF and the technical assistance that it provides to guarantee the implementation of the Kingdom’s economic reform programme, which started around two years ago.

The King stressed that the programme implemented by the Kingdom and the IMF should take the issue of protecting the poor and the middle class as a priority and ensure that they are not affected adversely.

His Majesty and Lagarde also discussed the high-level conference on “Building the Future: Jobs, Growth, and Fairness in the Arab World”, which the government, in cooperation with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the IMF, will host in Amman on May 11-12.

A statement issued by the IMF said the meeting was an opportunity to discuss recent global, regional and domestic economic developments, including the toll taken by the Syrian conflict, and its impact on the Jordanian economy.

The IMF’s managing director noted the good progress made by the authorities in moving forward on the economic reform programme under the Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF, and reiterated the IMF’s commitment to continue supporting Jordan’s efforts to put in place home-grown policies that promote macroeconomic stability, inclusive growth and higher employment.