RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has pledged $4 billion in aid to Egypt, the chief of Egypt's ruling military council said Saturday. The aid will be in the form of soft loans, deposits and grants, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the council, was quoted by Egypt's MENA news agency as saying. The agency did not provide a time frame or other details.
The Saudi Press Agency said Tantawi called Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah on Saturday and thanked him for providing the financial assistance to his cash-strapped country.
Egypt probably needs about $20B/yr in aid unless their tourism biz comes back, they can somehow get foreign investors interested again, get more $$ out of Egyptians working overseas and get a drop in the price of wheat - even in a optimistic scenario, they will be in major trouble for years.
Too bad the Egyptians never figured out how to build a successful state. It would come in handy right now. |