DUBAI - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has approved additional budget spending of 165 billion pounds ($5.4 billion) for this fiscal year ending in June, local media reported on Friday, citing the official gazette.

The additional money was allocated for wages, subsidies and grants, and for social benefit spending, state-owned newspaper Al Ahram reported.

Egypt is facing economic repercussions from the war in Ukraine, "which added to the commitments of the state valued at about 165 billion pounds," parliament said in a statement earlier this month after it approved a draft law for the extra spending.

In particular, the country is struggling with rising costs of grain and fuel imports.

Since last March, the Egyptian pound's official exchange rate has fallen by almost half to around 30.87 pounds per dollar after Russia's invasion of Ukraine exposed vulnerabilities in the country's finances.

($1 = 30.7500 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Hugh Lawson)