Amman  - Jordan and the United States on Monday signed five agreements under which Washington extended economic aid to the Hashemite Kingdom totalling
411.4 million dollars, according to a US embassy statement.

The deals were signed by Jordanian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair al-Ali, US ambassador Stephen Beecroft and director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) mission Jay L Knott.

The agreements, involving 261.4 million dollars in regular and 150 million dollars in supplemented assistance, bring the total US economic aid to Jordan in 2009 to 513.5 million dollars, the statement said.

"We are impressed by the commitment of the people and government of Jordan to implement a bold reform and development agenda to improve the lives of Jordanians, especially the poor, the young and underprivileged," Beecroft said.

The Jordanian minister said that part of the grants would be used to support the country's public budget, which was experiencing an unprecedented deficit mainly due to the global recession.  dpa