Egypt's finance minister, who has been negotiating with Gulf Arab states for financial assistance, said on Sunday that Qatar had given a grant of $500 million to support the budget which has ballooned as a result of political turmoil.Qatar's pledges to the PA have been a lot less than that. In fact, Qatar had refused to pay its pledges to the PA back in 2007.
Hazem el-Beblawi said last week he was negotiating with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for funds worth close to $7 billion. He also said he was considering International Monetary Fund financing that Egypt previously turned down.
Egypt's economy, which had been growing robustly before the popular uprising earlier this year, was hit hard by the protests, which prompted foreign investors to withdraw funds and saw major revenue sources like tourism suffer.
"They transferred $500 million as a grant to Egypt," Hazem el-Beblawi told Reuters, adding that the Qatari funds had been transferred in the past week or so. "It is a grant for budgetary support," he added.
The PA must not be happy that the pockets of Gulf countries are open to Egyptian Arabs and not to the Palestinian Arabs.