Egypt has signed financing agreements with Saudi Arabia worth $350m as it struggles to exit its most severe energy crisis in decades.

The deals were given the green light on 1 November and are designed to help Egypt finance upgrades to the country’s power grid and secure imports of oil and gas.

Egypt is suffering from regular power outages and has seen natural gas exports collapse as the country wrestles with rocketing domestic demand and falling production.

Two new power stations are going to be financed by two loan agreements worth a total of $100m.

Saudi Arabia has also agreed to help Egypt by supplying petroleum products worth $250m.

The latest deal is the latest in a string of moves by Gulf states intended to support Egypt in the wake of the 2013 coup that dislodged the democratically elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Saudi Arabia sent Egypt refined oil products worth $3bn between April and the first week of September, an official from Egypt’s state oil company told Reuters on 25 September.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have together provided Egypt with more than $20bn in grants, loans and petroleum products since the Egyptian army took control of the country, led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s current president.