Saudi Arabia withdrew its financial support from Pakistan, Lebanon and Egypt
New York Times claimed Saudi Arabia has begun imposing strict conditions on financial aid to friendly and regional developing countries, including Pakistan and Egypt
Saudi Arabia has withdrawn financial support from regional and friendly countries including Pakistan and Egypt, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman have started imposing strict conditions for financial support.
The New York Times has claimed in one of its reports that Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its hands from the unconditional financial assistance of developing regional and friendly countries.
The New York Times wrote that Saudi Finance Minister Mohammad Al-Jadaan said at the Davos conference in January that we used to directly attach grants but are changing that. We are working on reforms together with multilateral institutions.
According to the report, Riyadh has given billions of dollars in aid to a poor country like Egypt, but now that Egypt is facing a financial crisis again, Riyadh has sent a strong message that no more blank checks.
With oil revenues on the rise, the Gulf state’s 37-year-old leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is increasingly putting conditions on such aid. Emphasizing economic reforms such as reduction of subsidies and privatization of state-owned companies.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, ended 2022 with a $28 billion budget surplus after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices soaring, flooding profits.
Despite the massive profits, Saudi officials say they are tired of endless aid to poor states like Egypt, Pakistan, and Lebanon.
It used to be that ‘Egypt is too big to fail,’ said Karen Young, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Now the attitude is that Egypt is responsible for its own mistakes.
According to the New York Times, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is still sending aid, possibly more than ever. But now much of it is focused on international investment and the establishment of new industries for profit and influence.
The Saudi government has also taken on a role similar to that of the International Monetary Fund, giving it greater influence over regional politics than ever before, with major nations such as Pakistan effectively looking up to it.
