As Qatar Supports Egypt, Many Egyptians Unexcited

Much has been made of the consistent and quite determined support Qatar has been providing Egypt as of late, as well as Doha’s investment drive in the region’s most populous country.

Last year, Qatar announced $18 billion in investments in Egypt over the next five years, including a $10 billion North Coast tourist resort and $8 billion of investments primarily in oil and gas. Qatar has also recently acquired a 100% stake in Egypt's NSGB Bank, one of the biggest in the country. Furthermore, a new joint venture is being set up between Qinvest (owned by the Qatari Islamic Bank) and Egypt's (and the region's) largest investment bank, EFG Hermes. The venture, however, is being held up by regulators, and the deal could expire by next month if no official approval is reached by then, according to Reuters. 

And there’s more. Besides $5 billion of pre-existing aid, Qatar is providing $3 billion more through the acquisition of bonds, a favorable gas-provision deal to help with power shortages in Egypt in the summer, and an exemption for Egyptian companies from Qatar’s custodial (Kafeel) system regulating companies operating in the Gulf state. All of this was seemingly announced together. Many Egyptian government officials now travel regularly (and often in groups) to Doha more than they seem to be traveling anywhere else, and Egypt's controversy-ridden prosecutor-general even just signed a somewhat peculiar agreement on joint judicial and prosecutorial cooperation and development with Qatar.

What's even more interesting is that all this new aid came soon after Qatar's foreign minister had announced that there were no short-term plans for further aid to Egypt, and when speculation was surfacing that Doha was privately growing impatient with how the Brotherhood is running things in Egypt. More remarkably, the new aid package came immediately and swiftly after popular political satirist Bassem Youssef lambasted what is seen as Qatar’s aggressive political ambitions in a satiric rendition of the popular Nasser-era pan-Arab song “My Beloved Homeland,” whose new, rhyming title was “My Beloved Qatar.” Immediately after Youssef’s sketch, a loud ruckus of a debate ensued over whether he had gone too far in his criticism of a “brotherly Arab nation,” whether he had risked a potential mass expulsion of Egyptian expatriates by an angry Qatar, and whether he wasn't appreciative of the aid Qatar is providing Egypt at such a difficult time. The ruckus continued into yet another divide between two mass online efforts: those bashing Qatar and expressing fear over Egypt's fate, and those leading a “Thank You Qatar” campaign, the latter appearing to be predominantly Islamist-oriented individuals.