Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait gave Egypt $2.48 billion worth of fuel from July and the end of November as part of an aid package to support the strife-torn country, a government official told Reuters on Tuesday.
The three Gulf Arab countries promised Egypt more than $12 billion in loans and donations days after the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3 following mass protests against his rule.
“The total of the petrol aid that Egypt received until the end of November is $1 billion from Saudi Arabia, $820 million from the UAE and $660 million from Kuwait,” said the official who declined to be named.
At the end of September, Egypt’s central bank governor Hisham Ramez said the country had so far received $7 billion in aid – $3 billion from the UAE and $2 billion each from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Egypt’s Oil Minister Sherif Ismail said in October the three Gulf Arab countries had agreed to supply Egypt with oil products until the end of December and Egypt was discussing further supplies.
Egypt has struggled to pay for imports since a 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and drove away tourists and foreign investors, two main sources of foreign currency.
Since then the country has run through more than $20 billion in reserves. It has also delayed payments to oil companies and tried to reduce the cost of energy subsidies which eat up 20 percent of all state expenditure.
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