Egypt Needs $10 Billion In Aid To Revive Economy, Says EU Official
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The European Union, along with other institutions and countries, are likely to discuss ways on how to provide more financial support for Egypt when newly elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi arrives in Brussels this week, reported Reuters on Wednesday, after a senior EU official claimed that the $4.8 billion loan from the IMF to Cairo was unlikely to be enough to revive the Egyptian economy.
The European Union, along with other institutions and countries, are likely to discuss ways on how to provide more financial support for Egypt when newly elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi arrives in Brussels this week, reported Reuters on Wednesday, after a senior EU official claimed that the $4.8 billion loan from the IMF to Cairo was unlikely to be enough to revive the Egyptian economy.
The official, speaking on condition anonymity, said that Egypt would most likely “need more than double” the amount that the IMF provided, perhaps needing even “more than $10 billion” to recover from the revolt that toppled the country’s authoritarian government last year.
In addition, the official noted that Egypt’s future was important to the 27-member bloc, as they feared the possibility of anti-European governments on the other side of the Mediterranean.
[quote]The bloc will “reinforce” the IMF package with aid of its own, but is still considering how much support to provide, the official said.[/quote]Related: Egypt Receives $1bn Energy and Food Loan
Related: US To Forgive $1 Billion From Egyptian Debt
On Thursday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will arrive in Brussel “to talk about the support of the European Union during this transition for Egypt, said his spokesman Yassir Ali to AFP.
Morsi will meet with several officials including EU President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.
The 27-member European Union is Egypt’s largest trading partner, accounting for a third of the country’s foreign trade; while in 2011, Egypt imported EU goods worth 13.9 billion euros ($17.9 billion).
Reuters’ EU source told the news agency however that the EU may not be ready to open talks with Egypt on a free trade agreement, insteading focusing on a “more for more” policy, which it adopted last year, that links economic aid to progress in civil rights and democracy.
European officials will express “EU support for the democratic transition in Egypt” and a “eagerness to engage with the country’s new civilian authorities in furthering our partnership,” the EU office in Cairo said ahead of Morsi’s trip.
Related: Egyptians Will Not Settle For An Incomplete Revolution: Mohamed El-Erian
Related: Egypt’s Populist Problem – The Downside Of The Revolution: Mohsin Khan
