Eman El-Shenawi: Are Egypt’s ‘old chums’ coming soon?

The Egyptian revolution has revealed a lot in its fiscally blustery path, a path riddled with billion-dollar sums written about in the intense news coverage of the events.

Within the economic sphere, the revolution’s coverage revealed that Egypt was home to some of the largest-ever recorded figures of capital flight. It also reported one of the fastest-growing public debts in the Middle East. And it announced a multi-billion dollar spending gap that the Egyptian government desperately needed to bridge for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

It also revealed something else: Egypt’s bunch of friends.
One after the other, Gulf leaders pledged financial aid to Egypt, making an almost heroic entrance into Egypt’s distressed economic landscape by lending their helping hands. First it was Kuwait, with a $168 million state-run business set up to invest in Egypt’s economy. Then Saudi Arabia stepped in with $4 billion in financial aid, followed by Qatar’s pledge to plan projects in Egypt worth at least $10 billion, (although Qatar is yet to disclose what these projects will be). And most recently, the United Arab Emirates announced a $3 billion aid package for Egypt. Most of these offers are part-grant, part-loan bundles.

But the fact that Gulf States may be lending a hand to a good old chum has caught the attention of geopolitical analysts.

For starters, were they ever really “chummy” with Egypt? And if so, which Egypt are they now chummy with – the old or the new, 2.0 post-revolution version?

Reda Issa, an independent economic researcher, said that just months ago, Gulf states did not express support for the revolution because their interests did not align with the forces that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. He added that Egypt should be wary of the Gulf’s financial aid.

“There has to be a political reason,” he told an Egyptian newspaper. “We are not foolish enough to believe that money is given for nothing.”