Qatar has lent Cairo a further £1.25bn and donated an extra £300m in an effort to control a currency crisis prompted by Egypt’s political turmoil.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani announced the doubling of funds after meeting Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo.
Egypt faces the threat of a currency crisis after the Egyptian pound hit its lowest level in eight years.
Authorities warn the country’s central reserves are at a “critical level”.
Needed to defend the local currency against devaluation, the reserves have dropped from $36bn (£22.3bn) before the uprising to just $15bn, the Central Bank of Egypt disclosed late last month.
Meanwhile, the American credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded Egypt’s long-term credit rating to “B-” – the same level as that of Greece.
President Morsi has promised to make tackling the country’s failing economy a key priority.
Nearly two years after the ousting of his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, continuing political unrest has exacerbated Egypt’s financial problems, which helped fuel the uprising.