Saudi Arabia has agreed to give an initial loan package worth nearly $1bn to support Egypt’s economy, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

According to a statement on the SPA, both sides have signed a memorandum of understanding to make a $1bn deposit with Egyptian central bank. The statement added a further “request to export $250m of butance gas from Saudi Arabia to Egypt has been completed”, and that “measures to fund $200m of small and medium projects have been completed”.