AMMAN, 10 December 2007 — The Saudi Development Fund on Saturday extended a soft loan of $22 million to Jordan to finance the expansion of the state-run Al-Bashir Hospital, an official statement said. The loan agreement was signed by Jordan’s Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali and the Saudi Fund’s deputy chairman of the directors board, Yousuf Al-Bassam. The Saudi Fund extended a loan of $26.8 million in 2004 to finance the first stage of the hospital’s expansion. Since 1975, the Saudi Development Fund extended soft loans to Jordan totaling $265.6 million to help finance development projects in the Hashemite Kingdom, the official statement said.