GuarantCo provided a USD 42.5 million, on-demand guarantee with a 5-year tenor supporting Classic Fashion Apparel Industry (Classic Fashion), Jordan’s largest garment manufacturer.

With GuarantCo’s guarantee supporting Classic Fashion, Standard Chartered Jordan will be able to extend an additional facility. The proceeds of the loan will be used for the construction of a textile processing mill (phase 1), a centralised cloth cutting station, centralised laundry facility, and staff accommodations.

GuarantCo, through the PIDG Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), is providing a grant to co-finance the training activities at the “Centre for excellence in garment manufacturing” which is a project of the Jordan Ministry of Labour and Classic Fashion Apparel Industry Ltd. The training will provide the required skills for Jordanian youths and Syrian refugees, particularly women, and increase their employment opportunities in the Jordanian garment sector.

The guarantee will enable Classic Fashion to employ and train around 1,000 Syrian refugees, as well as Jordanians and migrant workers living in Jordan, over the next four years.

Jordan, in cooperation with partnering countries, is in the process of implementing the ‘Jordan Compact’, a political commitment to integrate Syrian refugees in the Jordanian labour market. Classic Fashion has embraced the concept of combining its own business model with the wider humanitarian agenda to provide employment to more vulnerable populations, particularly women, to improve inclusive economic growth.

As part of this initiative Classic Fashion is involved in the “Centre for Excellence in Garment Manufacturing”, a vocational training centre and a joint venture between Classic Fashion and the Ministry of Labour. It was launched in November 2017 to provide skills development for Jordanian youth and Syrian refugees to improve their chances of employment.