The regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is trying to unravel the economic crisis that has gripped Egypt since the overthrow of former President Mohammed Morsi in June 2013. Complicating matters, aid from the Gulf states has become less reliable than many had hoped.

It started with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which announced an aid package as soon as Morsi was isolated on July 3, 2013. The Saudis offered Egypt $5 billion divided between a bank deposit of $2 billion, large quantities of oil products worth $2 billion and $1 billion in cash.

Abu Dhabi soon joined in, making a $1 billion grant, a deposit worth $2 billion and $4.9 billion to start a service project. Kuwait came in third, with aid amounting to $4 billion.

Prior to Sisi's election, aid was managed by the government of interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi. Politicians and economic analysts had expected the aid to continue for a long time. This expectation was clear in a Bank of America report, which read that the total Gulf pledge to Egypt amounted to $20.8 billion during the last fiscal year. However, Cairo received no more than $18 billion. The report also predicted that Gulf support would increase following the presidential elections to help stabilize the Egyptian economy, stating that during the fiscal year (2014-2015) Egypt needs $12 billion to preserve its foreign exchange reserves at the central bank.