Egypt is expected to receive US$5 billion in depository aid from Saudi Arabia and the UAE later this month to compensate for the decline in foreign reserves after Egypt repays bonds worth $2.5 billion to Qatar next month, an unidentified government official said.
The UAE will pay $3 billion and Saudi Arabia will pay the remaining $2 billion, government official told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.
Qatar had offered to extend the period of Egypt's second $2.5 billion deposit which is due in November 2014, but the offer was rejected by the Egyptian side.
Meanwhile, Egypt will be paying other dues, including the payment of $700 million to Paris Club next January.
In related news, the Egyptian government during the past few weeks received several offers from Saudi Arabia and UAE companies to grow about one million acres in Toshka within the government’s plan to grow 3 million acres over the coming five years with investments for the first phase exceeding $2 billion.
Since the Egyptian military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsy in July 2013, oil-rich Gulf states have pledged a combined $20 billion (4.5 percent of GDP) in grants to Egypt to shore up its declining foreign reserves and finance its large fiscal deficits.
This includes $5 billion from Saudi Arabia, $4 billion from Kuwait and $3 billion from the UAE. So far, nearly $9 billion has already been disbursed.
