Gulf countries to provide additional $9 billion in emergency aid to Egypt

The Egyptian military-backed government is expecting an additional $9.1 billion in Gulf aid within the next few weeks, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Tuesday. The aid package includes $2.9 billion from the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE aid is part of a development assistance agreement signed between Egypt and the UAE to complement the terms of the $4.9 billion “development programme” agreement concluded between the two countries after the 3 July military coup.

Egypt has already received $1 billion (out of the $4.9) in July as a grant, in addition to another $1 billion to provide fuel and gas to Egyptians.

Al-Ahram quoted an “informed government source” as saying that Cairo will receive the UAE Minister of State Sultan Ahmad Algaber to follow up on projects related to these aid packages. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Abu Dhabi-based Khalifah Monetary Fund, Hussein Alnuwais, is awaiting a list of small and medium Egyptian enterprises that would benefit from receiving an additional $200 million fund.

A number of Egyptian officials are also expecting to receive, over the next few days, representatives of Arab funding agencies to take advantage of their credit facilities and long-term soft loans worth $2 billion. These agencies include the Saudi Development Fund, the Islamic Bank for Development and the Kuwaiti Fund.

Since 3 July 2013, Egypt has received more than $11 billion in Gulf aid in addition to the new package, according to a statement issued by Egypt’s interim Minister of Finance Ahmed Galal. However, economists suspect that Gulf aid has exceeded that figure and could even reach $16 billion. This is not to mention the interim government’s spending of the Gulf war deposit in the Central Bank, worth $9 billion, according to Galal.