The Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding, a sovereign wealth fund based in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced March 23 its intention to invest $2 billion in Egypt through the purchase of stakes in a number of state-owned companies, Asharq Business reported. Approximately half of this amount, the news site noted, will be used to acquire about 18% of Commercial International Bank, while the remainder will be invested in companies in sectors such as fertilizers and port services.

Just a week later, on March 29, Qatar announced an agreement to place another $5 billion “in the coming period” in a series of investments and partnerships in Egypt, according to a statement from the Egyptian government. To implement the agreement, the two parties agreed to establish a joint higher committee led by their foreign ministers. And as Egypt’s Minister of Planning Hala Elsaid told Bloomberg, the Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, will hold the proposed investments.

One day later, it was the turn of Saudi Arabia. On March 30, Riyadh announced that it had deposited $5 billion in the Central Bank of Egypt, the Saudi Press Agency reported. And on the same day, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly announced that in the coming period Egypt expects to attract up to $10 billion in investments from Saudi Arabia after witnessing the signing of an agreement to facilitate the Saudi Public Investment Fund activities in Egypt, according to a Cabinet statement.

The pledge of some $22 billion from Gulf states announced in a matter of days comes at a time when Egypt is experiencing a deep financial crisis that the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing global economic uncertainty has only helped to accelerate. In this context, the assistance from the Gulf is expected to at least neutralize for now some of its more urgent imbalances and vulnerabilities, albeit at a considerable price.