Gulf countries supported Egypt with $92bn since 2011

Gulf countries have supported Egypt with nearly $92 billion since the revolution that overthrew the regime of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Sources in the Central Bank of Egypt told the New Khaleej news site that the Gulf countries’ support for Egypt included aid, grants, loans and deposits in the Central Bank on which interest is payable.

Egypt has also received oil and in-kind assistance, especially during the first two years following the military coup of 3 July 2013.

The top Gulf donors were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, followed by Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar.

Saudi Arabia gave Egypt five deposits worth $8 billion while Saudi Aramco supplies Cairo with 700,000 tonnes of petroleum products each month through a Saudi loan of $23.5 billion for five years.

READ: UAE eases Qatar shipping ban amid Gulf blockade

During the rule of coup leader President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Egypt has received deposits from the UAE worth $6 billion, due to be repaid in installments until the end of 2023. The UAE has also supported the Egyptian economy with an $8.6 billion loan to finance the purchase of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, Kuwait has deposited $4 billion into the Egyptian Central Bank to boost the country’s reserves.

Last year, the governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Tariq Amer announced that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have agreed to postpone the repayment of deposits scheduled for the fiscal year 2018/ 2019.

READ: Egypt receives 5th $2bn tranche of IMF loan