CAIRO: Egypt’s finance minster, 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.
"They transferred $500 million as a grant to Egypt," Hazem El-Beblawi told Reuters, adding that it had been transferred in the past week or so. "It is a grant for budgetary support," he added.
Egypt forecasts a budget deficit of 8.6 percent of gross domestic product in the financial year to June 2012. Economists say this estimate may prove optimistic.
