A Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University Abbas Sharaky discussed US President Donald Trump’s statements regarding US funding for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
During a phone interview with Amr Adib on his show “al-Hekaya” (The Story), on MBC Masr, Sharaky said that Egypt has been urging countries from the beginning not to finance any projects without Egypt’s approval.
“Indeed, there is no funding from the World Bank or the European Union, but there is indirect funding from some countries, including the US,” he noted.
Sharaky pointed out that China is financing the electricity grid and turbines with approximately two billion dollars, via Chinese banks.
He also explained that the company currently building GERD is an Italian company.
“There is a well-known businessman of Ethiopian origin who was involved in GERD and has investments, but most of the primary investments are from Ethiopians themselves,” he said.
Sharaky noted that the US grants Ethiopia approximately one billion dollars annually, which the Ethiopian government can use for the GERD and other projects.
He referred to statements made by the US ambassador to Addis Ababa in 2021, in which the ambassador said that the US had provided approximately three billion dollars to Ethiopia over the previous three years.
Sharaky stated: “These three years were during Trump’s first term.”
He explained that Ethiopia announced in February 2011 that the cost of GERD was $4.8 billion, adding: “But I believe it exceeded eight billion dollars, and perhaps even surpassing $10 billion.”
Sharaky explained that most of the announced funding is from within Ethiopia through bonds issued by Ethiopians both at home and abroad.
He added however that several nations, including an Arab country, invested three billion dollars in Ethiopia in 2018, including one billion in the Central Bank of Ethiopia, which the Ethiopian government can direct in any direction – such as with the GERD project.
