By Jill Dougherty, reporting from Cairo
Calling it a "good-faith effort" to help the Egyptian people, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry released $250 million in economic aid Sunday, with a pledge of more if President Mohamed Morsy implements economic and political reforms.
Kerry's announcement came after a series of weekend meetings in Cairo with a cross-section of Egyptians and a two-hour session with Morsy on Sunday.
"When Egypt takes the difficult steps to strengthen its economy and build political unity and justice, we will work with our Congress at home on additional support," Kerry said in a written statement on the talks. But right now, Kerry said, Egypt needs help.
"In light of Egypt's extreme needs" and assurances by Morsy that he will take the steps necessary to obtain a major loan package from the International Monetary Fund, Kerry said the United States would provide the first $190 million of $450 million in already-promised support funds to the Egyptian government budget.
In addition, Kerry said, the United States will provide $60 million in direct support for an Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund geared toward Egypt's entrepreneurs, and fund a higher-education initiative to help students, especially women, earn undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and business.
Kerry said he was banking on Morsy's assurances that he would implement "homegrown" reforms to help secure agreement with the IMF and "put Egypt on the path to establishing a firm economic foundation and allow it to chart its own course."
Morsy "agreed and said he plans to move quickly to do so," Kerry said.
But Kerry is not releasing all of the $1 billion the Obama adminstration pledged to Egypt in May 2011, after the democratic revolution that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.
In addition to Sunday's $190 million, there is an additional $260 million in budget support funds still pending. And in a separate tranche of money, there is a further $550 million for scholarships and loan guarantees. Release of these funds will be conditioned on Morsy's following through on political as well as economic steps.
"The brave Egyptians who stood vigil in Tahrir Square did not risk their lives to see that opportunity for a brighter future squandered," Kerry said. "The Egyptian people must come together to address their economic challenge."
Concern still remains about free and fair elections, human rights, behavior of the police, clampdowns on nongovernmental organizations, and other problems that beset Egypt's troubled transition to democracy.
"It is clear that more hard work and compromise will be required to restore unity, political stability and economic health to Egypt," Kerry said. "The upcoming parliamentary elections are a particularly critical step in Egypt's democratic transition."
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International Policy Digest wrote an analysis regarding Egypt and that they are heading toward a difficult future that will only lead to further instability.
http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2013/03/18/egypt-faces-a-potentially-chaotic-summer/
as a citizen and tax payer I would like to see sec. of state kerry give 250 million dollars to me or any american and see what kind of economic impact that would bring to the citizens of our nation at a time when our leaders can not make a credible decision about our finances they choose to tuck tail and bow to the rising threat from ISLAM!!!!
isl
Hey John Kerry, where the F' is my economic aid?
You can have the harlem shake and that's it. No more money.
As an example of the blindness of the american people the secritary of state has delivered 250 million dollars to a nation in political chaos, just goes to show the slight of hand our government practices, claiming we have to cut spending only to give a nation on the verge of possibly becoming the same kind of state iran is.TERRORISTS
The Obama administration is an absolute sham. We just sent M1 Tanks and Apache attack helicopters to Egypt (A country that is radical and hates us by the way) now we are sending them money too? Cutting our defense spending but increasing aid and weapons to a militant islamic country. Obama needs to be impeached or tried for treason...
The Egyptians have had Apache helos and M1 tanks for years, the fact that we are broke makes giving 250mill in aid very bad politics.
you are a horrible and rascist person bacuase you get mad At america for helping muslims you red head
America is the root of all terror. America has invaded sixty countries since world war 2.
In 1953 America overthrow Iran's democratic government Mohammad Mosaddegh and installed a brutal dictator Shah. America helped Shah of Iran to establish secret police and killed thousands of Iranian people.
During Iran-Iraq war evil America supported Suddam Hossain and killed millions of Iranian people. In 1989, America, is the only country ever, shot down Iran's civilian air plane, killing 290 people.
In 2003,America invaded Iraq and killed 1,000,000+ innocent Iraqi people and 4,000,000+ Iraqi people were displaced.
Now America is a failed state with huge debt. Its debt will be 22 trillion by 2015.
@john smith,are you the famous Mormon moron...Try being original or get off these sites nitwit,its always the same BS,go away yah snake oil saleman....
Mogamed, obviously you haven't met many Americans, or you would realize we have just as many intelligent people living here as any other country, the problem is we are too nice, all most Americans want is peace and a way to make a living, and if we are getting so much money back from other countries, then why are so many people out of jobs and our country falling off the "fiscal cliff". Also we don't have people gathering in the streets and burning other countries flags and asking for the "annihilation" of anyone. Besides being sick of my government lying to me, I'm sick of other people in other countries hating me, I've never done anything to anyone, so with that being said anyone who hates me has no reason to do so. The world needs to realize it is a small group of men, that are not American that are responsible for every war and all this craziness that is happening, because what they want is a "One World Government" system, and they will not stop until the "world" begs for it, so I say to all, "Open your eye's", wake up, stop hating innocent people and hate the leaders of the world!
ALl these fools, shows the ignorance of many americans.... USA just does not give anything away. If that were the case they would give us interest free money etc etc. There is something that Egypt has, that we wont know until later. Egypt is also near many bodies of water, so that means trade will open up and the US will really start to tackle Africa in the next 10-20 years. We are giving them 250 million because most probably we will get back over 2.5 billion $. Ignorant americans believe news media and attack government back and forth like a tennis ball. IT IS ALL ABOUT MONEY, CORPORATIONS, RESOURCE ALLOCATION.
You're complete forgetting when US FORCED France and Britain to return the Suez canal back to Egyptian control in the 1950s. We have interests. Our interest is to NOT have a Egypt run by fanatical Islamists. We will do EVERYTHING in our power to prevent that. This foreign aid is simply that, aid to help the fledgling government provide for its people so that it DOESN'T turn into another Iran (unlikely as they're Sunni but the principle of preventing a rise of a corrupt, dangerous Theocracy is the same).
Our politicians are not stupid or morons, the international bankers, who are in bed with the federal reserve know exactly what they are doing, bankrupting the greatest nation the earth has ever known, it's time to audit the federal reserve and clean house in this country, bring these bankers to justice, or forget it, as we will not be able to keep going this way much longer!
As a 16 year old, I believe that this was unwise for three reasons. One, the current president of Egypt has spoken out against the existence of the country of Israel our greatest ally in the region. Two, the Egyptian government is unstable and they may turn against the U.S. in the future. Third, the U.S. is currently 16 trillion dollars in debt and we are spending more money then we take in every year. By spending more and more money then we own, the United States of America will become weak and further in debt. What happened to the strong America we had long ago?
Right on Han-for a 16 year old your pretty perceptive. Much more than Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Chris Van Holen etc. etc.
And here at home we're going to gut Medicare and raise the age for social security while our infrastructure falls at our feet. Way to go STUPID
There goes another $250,000.000.00 wasted to line the pockets of people that hate us!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahaha
Seriously? Why not take that $250,000,000 and pay some f******* bills with it? I can understand the situation in Syria, when the work is odne it will pay off in getting some of Assad's family fortune and a cut of the minerals be stolen. I get it. The Egyptians don't need this money. You do. $16,660,421,467,325 in debt? Pay your bills and fix your problems FIRST before you start fixing areas that have no economic return for you. Stick to Syria and Libya, they still have resources. Forget everyone else
I have a better idea. Why don't we not invest more in Libya and Syria and say we did. There is no return on any of those wasteland countries. We worked for ten years to rebuild Iraq. How much of Iraq's oil revenue do we get? Zero! I say stop already. We don't have money to give away.
It’s time to clean our own house and rebuild our own infrastructure. It’s time to disconnect from the world oil teet and work on a system of energy independence through renewable sources. It’s time to educate our illiterate children so that they can contribute to the legal economy instead of the drug economy. It’s time to stop the game of PAC funded legalized extortion that is the basis for the election of our leaders. It’s time to fix our bridges, power distribution, water systems and roads. Compared to many of the countries that we fund, our system is falling apart. It’s time for LEADERSHIP and the end of the duopoly of politics that is our government today.
But before we can do any of these things, we need to replace the clowns in Washington with people who know how to run a fiscally responsible economy. And in my opinion, those people don't exist in the current two party system. TIME FOR A REVOLUTION. THROW THE SCOWNDRALS OUT!
You couldn't have said it better. I agree and any that don't can leave. Lets do it.
What's wrong with this picture? We give $250M to Egypt while we have to cut back services in the US. Why are these politicians hellbent on nation building while our own national infrastructure is crumbling, our national debt is crushing and our legislative process is in abject decline. ITS TIME TO THROW OUT THESE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON FOLKS. THIS COUNTRY IS BEING RUN BY PEOPLE WHO ARE MORE INTERESTED IN THEIR OWN LONGEVITY AND WEALTH THAN THEY ARE IN THE WELFARE OF THE UNITED STATES. THIS IS TRULY TREASONOUS. STAND UP AND REVOLT! CLEANING UP WASHINGTON IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN MARCH MADNESS, DANCING WITH THE STARS OR THE NEXT AMERICAN IDOL. OPEN YOUR EYES AMERICA. YOU ARE IN STEEP DECLINE!
Fantastic! The US aids Egypt $250 million. Will we see a brand-new Pyramid on Earth?
Fantastic! The US aids to Egypt $250 million. Will we see a brand-new Pyramid on Earth?
This is not right... Shame on you Kerry... Do you really think that the majority of Americans agree with this, especially since our economy is in financial crisis already? Our government is talking cutbacks – this would be a good place to start!
@Dovie,just what planet are you on,foriegn aid been going to Egypt for decades,our economy problems or not!!It is about time to take care of domestic issues,meaning ours ,than always putting others before U.S.!!
Kerry looks like just as big an idiot as he was when he ran for president. But then again, against Dubya, a monkey would look like Einstein. Talk about relativity!
This is unbelievable. We are broke, we have to borrow money from China to loan to Egypt that our grandchildren will have to pay off. In the mean time, we have to furlough teachers, police and air traffic controllers. This country's politicians are surely idiots. Time to rise up and revolt!
This is the problem with America. We have no ability to control how we spend money, we give money away to countries to buy friends and we dont worry about taking care of our own problems first. Just last week this country divided itself over the sequester(thanks to the politicians making it sound a lot worse than it is). A couple months ago this country's politicians couldnt come to gribs with spending money on Super Storm Sandy repairs,This week OUR GOVERNMENT TOO YOUR MONEY AND GAVE a 1/4 of a blllion in aid to a nation who doesnt need us in their affairs.
@Chris,some of you fail to remember we're one if the only countries that can legally forgive our own countries debts and that by printing more money!!Problem solved!!
Egypt does not need that kind of help, they have more money than what U.S.A. can offert. Use some kind of funds for the American Homeless Community.
How can we punish American government workers and citizens by introducing pay cuts and unpaid time off and then give money out so some other country that does not care about the US. Who gives the US money or help? NO ONE!!!!!!!!
I THOUGHT WE WERE BROKE!
We are, however, they borrowed money for their friends. I wonder what history going to say about this time in history.
Good morning Kerry Sir!!! This is Kareem Chamar (professional shoe-maker) of Pakistan Sir. Please send money to Pakistan too !!! We are out of money to buy IED grade fertilizer.
Good to see that the money that would have went to all those military folks who lost their jobs recently will go to a good cause.
Supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Hard to believe people are still defending Obama and his wealth redistribution policies that are ruining this nation.
So "transparent" ... let's "means test" everything at home (USA) so we can take your money and gve it away. Pitiful nation we have become.
Definition of foreign aid. A transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
Well said...
Reblogged this on World Chaos.
Its not like we (the US) could have used the $250 MILLION ourselves since Obalmer signed the sequestion and the US economy is in the toilet. Thanks Obama,Biden,and Kerry.
@RetiredVet,remember bud who we inherited this economic mess from and if your republicans wouldn't have voted unanimously in both houses for the sequester Pres.Obama wouldn't had have to sign it would he big guy!!Most of you posters here are real brainiacs ares yah!!
Good job Obama guys !!! Let's release some more prisoners here, so we can keep funding these piece of crap, lazy bums, no good muslim countries.
Leave it Barack Obama to do something stupid like this! Now Egypt will stay hooked on U.S. foreign aid like so many other puppet states around the world!
"so many other puppet states around the world" are all muslim countries, waste of good land on planet Earth.
@George Patton,quit using a well decorated WWII war heros name for your ignorent ranting.Foriegn aid to most countries here are less than 1/10 of 1% of our budget ,read up before spouting and use another name for posting,not someone so respected if you know anything!
Can you prove it, Pete? U.S. foreign aid to other countries is more like 15% of the national budget when one factors in the military part of the equation. In fact Pete,Isolationism is a truly good idea whose time has come. Let other countries bail Egypt out of it's current mess and let us take care of our own problems here at home!!!
@George Patron ,read my previous posts buddy,way ahead of yah in more then intelligence!!
@George Patron,read Politifacts and its approximately 1.2% as of last year not including wars,far from the 15% you're ranting about ..