Although lost in the spotlight on Abu Dhabi’s foreign financial aid, historically the emirate has also been tremendously generous in its own backyard, where it counts the most.

For example, much has been said about the UAE’s assistance to post-Brotherhood Egypt over the past few weeks. The country, along with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, had immediately provided Egypt with a generous package of $12 billion, with Abu Dhabi contributing $3 billion alone. Shortly thereafter, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince visited Egypt and pledged an additional $2 billion to the cash-strapped North African state. Abu Dhabi also sent seven shipments of fuel valued at $225 million in July in addition to a number of developmental projects. Closer in the Gulf, Abu Dhabi had granted Bahrain $2.5 billion early this year and pumped $500 million into Oman as part of the Gulf Aid Program.

According to a 2010 report by the UAE Foreign Aid Coordination Office, Abu Dhabi’s foreign assistance amounted to $44.3 billion by 2010, benefiting more than 90 countries. A senior source told me that during the era of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed, the amount of aid was so great that not all available records truly reflect it.

In order to understand Abu Dhabi’s regional and international financial-assistance programs, one must consider another aspect of the story that is little discussed. Abu Dhabi’s internal assistance program is perhaps where the real story lies. Although Abu Dhabi’s foreign assistance is widely known, the internal dynamics of the UAE are not as clear to outside observers. Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital, sits on vast oil reserves that it has used prudently to the benefit of others. In fact, Abu Dhabi is the world’s only federal capital that almost entirely subsidizes the budget of the rest of the country, and without collecting any income taxes whatsoever.