Kuwait to provide $4 billion in aid to Egypt

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kuwait will provide $4 billion in aid to Egypt, matching pledges by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that showed Gulf Arab approval of the Egyptian army's ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, according Reuters.

KUNA state news agency, which first reported the news, said the package would comprise a $2 billion central bank deposit, a $1 billion grant and $1 billion in oil products.

On Tuesday, July 9, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each pledged $4 billion in aid to Egypt, where the army overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi a week ago after huge street demonstrations against the elected president.

KUNA did not say when the Kuwaiti aid would arrive.

Kuwait has in the past cooperated with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, pledging financial aid for Gulf neighbors hit by social unrest such as Bahrain and Oman, but also for Morocco and Jordan.

The aid from the three Gulf Arab oil producers is expected to help Egypt avoid a balance of payments crisis and overcome fuel shortages that partly stoked public anger against Morsi.

It will also ease pressure on Cairo to conclude long-running talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan. However, a surging fiscal gap and political turmoil following Morsi's toppling last week will remain a pressing challenge for Egyptian authorities, analysts said.

Qatar lent Egypt more than $7 billion during Morsi's abruptly curtailed year in power, but other Gulf states remained aloof, wary of the Muslim Brotherhood's potential influence in their own conservative, dynastically ruled countries.