Feature: 7 Deadly Stories: Middle East out of the ashes?

CAIRO, Egypt — When it comes to the Middle East's role in the global economy, one three-letter word invariably arises: oil.

It's easy to understand why.

Six of OPEC's 12 members are here, including the world's largest exporter of the black stuff, Saudi Arabia. The global economy, quite simple, runs on oil.

So when the region erupted this year in protests, economists naturally focused on the fluctuating price of crude and what that might mean to global economy and the geopolitics of the region.

Egypt, the largest economy and country in the region, has complied with that preordained script. Desperate to revive its battered economy, Egypt's interim government is now raising eyebrows by turning to its oil-rich, and decidedly less democractic, neighbors to the east.

The nation's transitional military leaders, who assumed power after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, announced earlier this year that Saudi Arabia, together with several other countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council, had pledged roughly $17 billion to reinvigorate Egypt's post-revolution economy.

Meanwhile, the government turned down a billion-dollar loan offer from the International Monetary Fund, despite having applied for the assistance just weeks before.

That change of heart, along with Egypt's clear financial shift eastwards, has left some economists scratching their heads in disbelief, and have raised suspicions about the motives of the lending countries.

"I believe the IMF would have given Egypt very favorable conditions for loans," said Alia al-Mahdy, the dean of Cairo's University's school of economics. "But I am much more doubtful about the money that is supposedly coming from the Gulf."

Egypt's already sluggish economy took a nosedive at the start of the revolution in late January and has yet to come up for air.