Egypt plans a second stimulus package worth billions of dollars early next year, its trade and industry minister said, as the government works to give people jobs and put money in their pockets during a tough political transition.

The package will likely be equal to or larger than a 22.3 billion Egyptian pound ($3.2 billion) package announced in August, trade minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

His comments came hours before the United States halted some aid to the army-backed government following a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, a move that Cairo sharply criticised.

Egypt's economy, crippled by more than two and a half years of social and political turmoil, has been supported in recent months by funding from several Gulf Arab states.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates promised a combined $12 billion in loans, grants and fuel shipments after the army deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July following mass protests against his Brotherhood-dominated rule. - Reuters