Saudi Arabia is blaming procedural matters for the delay in financial assistance to Egypt, reports Doaa El-Bey The aid that Saudi Arabia pledged to Egypt last year seems to have been delayed over procedural matters. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal said last week that his country would honour a $3.75 billion pledge in aid to Egypt. "The kingdom pledged to support Egypt in meeting the challenges facing its economy through a series of financial commitments totalling $3.75 billion," Al-Faisal told the Saudi Press Agency. His remarks came in a press conference in Riyadh in response to a question regarding public complaints by Egypt's Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri that donor countries were failing to respect their commitments. Al-Faisal said Riyadh paid $500 million of its total commitment to Cairo's Central Bank in May last year when the aid was promised. The fact that the Saudi government honoured part of its aid indicates that the delay could be due to organisational or procedural matters that could be settled via coordination and consultation between the two states, said an economist who talked on condition of anonymity. "However, Riyadh and other Gulf countries should stick to a schedule to give much needed aid to Egypt," she told Al-Ahram Weekly. Meanwhile, she added, it is not a healthy sign that El-Ganzouri stands in parliament and complains that other countries had failed to help Egypt. "We should look for other options on the internal and external levels." Egypt's Ministry of Finance described Al-Faisal's statement as "diplomatic" which was not followed by implementation. Minister of Finance Mumtaz El-Said was quoted by newspapers this week as saying that the Egyptian government had not received any aid from Saudi Arabia except the $500 million given in May 2011 to help support the budget. Regarding the rest of the promised aid, the delay seemed to be over procedural matters, Al-Faisal explained in the press conference. He said the 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 the Egyptian government. A memorandum was signed earlier with the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation to identify the projects that require funding in order for the Saudi fund to assess them. The rest of the Saudi assistance includes another transfer to the Central Bank and the purchases of treasury bonds. Saudi Arabia has in addition supplied Egypt with 48,000 tonnes of liquefied gas. The promised Saudi package is likely to support Egypt's general budget, the Central Bank, other projects and bond purchases. The aid was promised by Saudi King Abdullah and announced last May by the head of the ruling military council Hussein Tantawi. The Egyptian economy has been set back since the start of the 25 January Revolution. Cairo has been asking donor countries to contribute to reducing the budget deficit of some LE144 billion which analysts expect to increase because of widespread instability. As a result, the government decided to borrow $3 billion from the IMF. The loan, which involved less interest rate, was initially rejected by the Egyptian government in March. Egyptian-Saudi relations have experienced ups and downs after the revolution due to the belief among many Egyptians that Saudi officials were opposed to the revolution and are linking aid to the release of Hosni Mubarak who was forced to step down as president at the height of the nationwide revolt on 11 February 2011. Mubarak is currently in police detention. However, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied the charge. In their statements, both Al-Faisal and Al-Said underlined the strong brotherly relations and the historic ties between the two countries. This in itself would resolve any differences, facilitate procedures and guarantee that the aid will arrive in Egypt soon, said the economist. In a separate development likely to boost Egyptian relations with some other Arab states, Assistant Foreign Minister for Consulate Affairs and Egyptian Expatriates Ahmed Ragheb visited Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE this week to help resolve the problem of Egyptian detainees or prisoners in the countries and tackle all other problems facing Egyptian expatriates. Ragheb was accompanied by a high-level delegation which included officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, defence, manpower, interior and education.
