Saudi Arabia said Wednesday that it would honor a pledge of $3.75 billion in aid to Egypt, after complaints by the Egyptian premier that donor countries were failing to respect their commitments.
Saudi Arabia
said
Wednesday that it would honor a pledge of $3.75 billion in aid to
Egypt
,
after complaints by the Egyptian premier that donor countries were failing to
respect their commitments.
"The kingdom pledged to support
Egypt
in
meeting the challenges facing its economy through a series of financial
commitments total ling $3.75 billion," Prince Saud al-Faisal was quoted as
saying by the official SPA news agency.
Responding to remarks by Prime Minister Kamal Ganzuri on donor states' failure
to honor their pledges to support Egypt's ailing economy, Faisal said Riyadh
had already paid $500 million of its total commitment into Cairo's Central Bank
in May last year when the aid was promised.
A second tranche of $1.45 billion, to finance a number of projects by the Saudi
Development Fund, was the subject of a memorandum of understanding still
awaiting the go-ahead from
Egypt
, he
added.
The rest of the Saudi aid, including another transfer to the central bank and
the purchase of treasury bonds, had also been held up by the Egyptian
government, Faisal said.
Saudi Arabia
has,
in addition, supplied
Egypt
with
48,000 tons of liquefied gas and "will not hesitate to stand beside its
Egyptian brothers," he added.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund described the plight of
Egypt
's
once-growing economy as dire, sounding the alarm on stagnant growth and a
precipitous drop in the country's foreign reserves.
Also in February, international rating company Standard & Poor's downgraded
Egypt
for
the second time since November over concerns about political instability and
plunging currency reserves.
The Arab world's most populous nation is facing a budget deficit of 144 billion
Egyptian pounds (about $24 billion), which analysts expect to deepen as the
country continues to feel the aftershocks of an uprising last year that
overthrew veteran president Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptian state media recently quoted Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said as saying
his government would sign a memorandum of understanding with the International
Monetary Fund in March for a previously spurned $3.2 billion loan.
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