According to ProPublica, this massive amount of American aid has "enabled" the Egyptian government ot postpone democratic reform.

"You simply cannot postpone political reform and assuage political demands through economic prosperity alone," said Michel Oksenberg, the president of the East-West Center in Honolulu.

That resistance existed from others was demonstrated by Raul's announcement, in 2010, of an unprecedented pre-Congress conference to make personnel changes, in what was seen as a threat to those hoping to postpone reform.

There are those who argue that regulatory reform is the enemy of growth - that we should postpone reform.

He says his committee is not trying to postpone reform and denies wanting to damage the prime minister.

Jiang's biggest aim in the economy was stability, and he believed that a stable government with highly centralised power would be a prerequisite, choosing to postpone political reform, which in many facets of governance exacerbated the on-going problems.

Critics of Western engagement argue that handouts will allow the republics, already wealthy by international standards, to postpone economic reform.

"We're at the point where we can't postpone reform any longer," said Amadeu Dias, director of general employment in the Public Works Ministry.

Spending more money on the present system, he said, "would at best only postpone" real reform.

Aid to the Soviets, as subsidies and credit guarantees, he argues, will encourage the Soviet Union planners to postpone economic reform.