AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Saudi Arabia has pledged $8 billion in investment and aid to Egypt over the next five years, as Riyadh looks to boost military and economic ties with its ally.
His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia “ordered that Saudi investments in Egypt exceed 30 billion riyals” (about U.S. $8 billion) and that the kingdom “contribute in providing Egypt with its needs for gasoline,” according to a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency in December 2015.
Additionally, Saudi ships would “support” traffic in the Suez Canal, Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud announced during a visit to Egypt in December 2015.
The pledges come despite a sharp fall in Saudi Arabia’s oil revenues, which make up over 90 percent of public revenues, because of a global decline in crude oil prices since June 2015. Saudi Arabia has offered billions of dollars in aid to Egypt since Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president in 2013. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each offered $4 billion in investment and aid.
Egypt is taking part in a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling Houthi rebels in Yemen since March 2015. It is also participating in the Saudi-backed 34-member alliance to fight terrorism.
During the visit by Saudi dignitaries, Sunni Islam’s leading seat of learning, Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, urged all Muslim countries to join the new coalition. Egypt is fighting an insurgency led by Daesh collaborators in the Sinai Peninsula.