Arab spring gets only fraction of funds - FT.com

Tunisia and Egypt have received only a fraction of funds promised by the international community to support their transition to democracy, according to the two countries’ finance ministers.

In May, western and Arab countries and multilateral agencies said they would provide $20bn to support economic reform in Egypt and Tunisia through 2013. The funds were part of a $40bn package including $10bn of bilateral support from western governments and $10bn from Gulf states.

“As of today, [we have received] nothing,” Jalloul Ayed, Tunisia’s finance minister, said during a meeting of Arab finance ministers on Wednesday. Mr Ayed will press for the funds to be disbursed at this weekend’s G7 meeting in Marseilles.

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