By James M. When Mohammed al-Jadaan told a gathering of the global political and business elite that Saudi Arabia would, in the future, attach conditions to its foreign aid, the finance minister was announcing the expansion of an existing policy rather than a new approach. For the longest time, Saudi Arabia granted aid with no overt strings.
As a result, over the years, Saudi Arabia poured tens of billions of dollars into black holes, countries that used the aid as a band-aid to address an immediate crisis with no structural effort to resolve underlying causes. For countries like Lebanon, Egypt, and Pakistan, this meant stumbling from one crisis to the next. We used to give direct grants and deposits without strings attached, and we are changing that. In doing so, the new conditionality positions the kingdom as a constructive, forward-looking member of the international community.
Saudi circumvention of the American revolutionary principle, irrespective of whether it helps pacify Saudis, has already had unintended consequences. Bin Salman to stop aiding Jordan. Your donations pay bills that have nothing to do with the Jordanian people. We hear about aid coming in for the state. Al-Fayez said in a letter to the crown prince. Al-Fayez wrote his letter in December at the height of clashes in the southern city of Maan between security forces and protesters angry about rising fuel prices and poor governance.
Countries like Lebanon, Pakistan, and Egypt that are potentially most impacted by the expansion of Saudi aid policy illustrate the geopolitical complexities of the change. To be sure, the Lebanese establishment is responsible for the country teetering on the brink of collapse.
The World Bank has described the crisis fuelled by corruption, waste, and unsustainable financial policies as one of the worst globally since the midth century. The explosion in a warehouse in the port housing hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a material used in fertilizers, killed people, injured more than 6,, and damaged large parts of Beirut.
