(AFP Photo)
Egypt has repaid $500m to Qatar and will soon repay the rest of the money loaned by the Gulf state, Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Hisham Ramez told Reuters.
“Egypt has already transferred $500m to Qatar on 1 October and will refund $2.5bn at the beginning of November, because they [Qatar] did not ask for renewal,” said Ramez.
Qatar provided about $7.5bn in loans and grants to boost Egypt’s struggling economy during the turmoil that followed the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. However, relations between Egypt and Qatar deteriorated after the ousting of former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry blamed problems between the two Arab countries on Qatar’s interference in Egypt’s internal affairs, in a January 2014 statement. Egypt had summoned the Qatari ambassador which was “an unusual step among Arab countries” said the Egyptian foreign ministry in the statement.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates provided Egypt with over $20bn in economic aid following the ousting of Morsi.
