São Paulo – Kuwait is donating the equivalent of US$ 1 billion to Egypt, according to information supplied by the Egyptian ambassador in Kuwait, Salem Al-Zamanan, and published on newspaper Al Ahram last Thursday (3rd). The Kuwaiti government pledged to make the donation on occasion of the ousting of the former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, in July last year. The transaction is pending approval from the Kuwaiti Parliament.
This is not Kuwait’s first donation to Egypt. Another US$ 3 billion in bank deposits and oil have been sent to Cairo since Morsi stepped down, in July 2013, after being elected to replace Hosni Mubarak, who stepped down in early 2011 as a result of pressure from the country’s population.
Last Wednesday (2nd), Kuwait and Egypt signed another agreement for a US$ 106 million financing line from the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development to build a power plant in Assiut, on the Nile Valley. The plant should generate 650 megawatts per day.
The Kuwaiti donation to Egypt is part of a pledge involving other Gulf countries as well. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have wired US$ 5.8 billion to Egypt early this year. Various Arab countries have committed to providing a combined US$ 12 billion to Egypt.
Ever since Morsi stepped down, Egypt is being governed by the military. Field marshal Abdul Fattah AL-Sisi, the former leader of the military junta that rules the country, and former minister of Defence, left his post on March 26th to run in the presidential elections scheduled for May 26th and 27th.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
