In an interview with three state-run newspapers, Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El Sisi, stated that Egypt would end its dollar exchange rate problem, as the country can’t put off tough measures to revive the economy, amid signs that aid from Gulf states won’t flow as freely as before, Bloomberg reported.

El Sisi added that officials had waited too long to act, and that piecemeal measures taken over the years were no longer tenable. With the country bracing to meet International Monetary Fund requirements for a $12b loan, the president’s comments offered some of the strongest indications yet that Egypt was moving to free its exchange rate or devalue its pound.

El Sisi said: “The size of the challenges is beyond imagination, and the responsibility for coping with them doesn’t fall solely on my shoulders but is a responsibility shared by Egyptians as a whole.”

These comments coincided with a deal signed by the Director General of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Tarek Amer, in which the UAE has offered a financial deposit worth $1b to Egypt, for a period of 6 years, according to WAM Emirates News Agency.