The State Department made it known today that there has been no change in the status of the U.S. aid program to Egypt, thus indicating that reports published in today’s press to the effect that the United States intends to cut off economic assistance to Egypt pending an easing of the Suez Canal crisis are premature.
The reports, attributed to Administration officials, said that the United States has not notified Egypt officially that aid is being shut off, because the State Department is waiting to see the results of the London conference on the Suez issue. However, commenting on these reports today, a State Department spokesman said: “No new U.S. aid programs have been approved, nor have any previous commitments been withdrawn.”
The State Department official said that no decision has yet been made whether to offer aid to Egypt during the fiscal year 1958. At the same time, he made it clear that current aid commitments to Egypt are “still in the pipeline continuing to move.” Current aid commitments amount to $38,000,000. Yesterday, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said that if the London conference on the Suez Canal failed, “economic pressure” might be brought to bear on Egypt, but he did not explain by whom this pressure might be exercised.
A spokesman for the International Cooperation Administration, however, said last night that “major items of large expenditure will not be shipped from American or European ports until political determinations are made,” in connection with the Suez crisis.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
