The deposit is part of $12 billion in aid that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates promised Egypt after the military deposed Islamist president Mohammad Morsi on July 3.

"Yes. The Kuwait $2 billion (has been) received," Hisham Ramez told Reuters in a text message.

Ramez said one week ago that Egypt had returned a $2 billion deposit from Qatar, after negotiations to turn it into three-year bonds had failed.

The bank deposit, which was meant to be transformed into bonds, was part of an $8-billion Qatari aid package to Cairo after the 2011 revolution that toppled its former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

However, relations between Doha and Cairo have been unsettled since July 3, when Morsi was ousted. Qatar had been a strong supporter of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Ramez said earlier that the money was paid back to Qatar after its government asked Egyptian officials to delay the conversion of the funds to bonds as agreed earlier.

Egyptian authorities have also targeted Qatar’s state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera and its affiliates in Egypt by storming its offices and arresting its reporters.

The network said in a statement released on September 12, “Al Jazeera has instructed lawyers to take all steps necessary worldwide to ensure that its journalists can operate freely in the country without fear of arbitrary arrest, assault, jamming or other forms of harassment and intimidation.”

NJF/NJF