CAIRO, Dec. 22 (Aswat Masriya) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided Egypt with 11.78 billion dirhams ($3.21 billion) in aid during 2014, said Egypt’s international cooperation minister Tuesday.

The aid the UAE granted Egypt last year made up 52 percent of all UAE foreign aid, Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said.

She said the UAE aid granted to Egypt over the course of the past 5 years 2010-2014 amounted to 29.04 billion dirhams ($5.81 billion), constituting 48.6 percent of the total UAE foreign aid in those five years.

Years of political turmoil left Egypt’s economy in dire need of financial assistance, halving the state’s foreign reserves and driving away tourists, which has contributed to a dollar shortage.

The Egyptian economy is grasping at every chance to collect financial assistance before the end of the year. Gulf support has kept the Egyptian economy afloat for the past two and a half years.

Saudi Arabia said last week that it is going to raise its investments in Egypt to above 30 billion Saudi riyals ($8 billion) and will "contribute to providing Egypt with petroleum needs for the next five years.”

Saudi ambassador to Egypt said the trade volume between Saudi Arabia and Egypt from January through August, 2015 amounted to nearly $3.7 billion, a day after the announcement.

Last Sunday, Egypt signed a loan agreement worth 45 million Kuwaiti dinars or $150 million with the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. The money will be used to fund an Egyptian sewage project in the province of Giza.