Snip ~ "A senior administration official, who gave details about planned U.S. economic aid for Egypt and Tunisia during a conference call with reporters Wednesday, said Obama would also announce "several billion dollars" in additional funding from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
May 19, 2011
US expected to cancel $1 billion of Egypt's debt
Barack Obama is expected to announce plans to forgive $1 billion of Egypt's debt to the U.S. and offer another $1 billion in loan guarantees during what is billed by White House officials as a major speech on the Middle East on Thursday.
Obama is due to make “a speech on the events in the Middle East and North Africa, and U.S. policy in the region,” at the State Department at 11:40 a.m.
A senior administration official, who gave details about planned U.S. economic aid for Egypt and Tunisia during a conference call with reporters Wednesday, said Obama would also announce "several billion dollars" in additional funding from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Chiefly, the package would include $1 billion in debt relief and an additional $1 billion in loan guarantees to Egypt that would be administered by the Overseas Private Investment Corp, NPR reports. The money would be spread out "over a few years," according to one.
"We think it's important to note that some of the protests in the region are deeply rooted in a lack of individual opportunity and economic growth, as well as a suppression of political rights," the administration official reportedly said.
White House officials have billed Thursday's speech at the U.S. state department as a "major address." It comes days after days after Gen. Jim Jones, a former Obama national security adviser, suggested a new Marshall Plan for emerging democracies in the Middle East and Northern Africa — a reference to the strategy for revitalizing Europe led by the secretary of state under President Harry Truman, Army Gen. George C. Marshall.
The Marshall Plan "summoned broad international and U.S. investment in rebuilding the economies of a war-ravaged Europe and combating the spread of communism in the process," writes Susan Crabtree in Talking Points memo.
The official quoted during Wednesday's conference call dealt exclusively with Egypt and Tunisia and refused to respond to a question about U.S. policy towards Syria, according to Al Jazeera.
Both Egypt and Syria suffer from high levels of unemployment and economic inequality, structural problems which helped to provide a spark for their revolutions.
The Obama administration says its economic proposals, particularly the debt relief plan, will provide a quick source of cash for Cairo and Tunis.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/110519/middle-east-aid-obama-egypt-tunisia-marshall-video
