CAIRO – Egypt’s interim president Thursday extended a nationwide state of emergency for two more months, citing continued security concerns.

Meanwhile, a senior Egyptian official warned of more terrorist attacks in the wake of a failed assassination attempt against the interior minister and suicide bombings in the Sinai Peninsula.

The nearly month-old state of emergency, which was due to expire within days, preserves greater powers for security forces amid a crackdown on supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and increasing violence by Islamic militants.

It was first declared in mid-August after authorities cleared two protest encampments held by Morsi supporters, unleashing violence that claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 in subsequent days.

Ever since, a nighttime curfew has also been in effect in much of the country. The interim government will decide separately on whether to continue the curfew. Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has said the curfew, now lasting for 7 hours most nights, would likely be eased.

The government Thursday announced new measures aimed at easing an economic crunch, in a sign it aims to show that it is tackling the nation’s problems even amid the exceptional security conditions.

The measures included relief for low-income families from school expenditures and reduction in public transportation costs. They also included an injection of $ 3.1 billion budget support to be spent on infrastructure projects and employment generation, which the government says it hopes will increase economic growth from the current 2 percent to 3.5 percent.

The spending will largely be financed from money pledged by Gulf countries to Egypt after Morsi’s July 3 ouster, the government said.

Egypt’s continued political instability has badly hit the country’s economy, decimating tourism and direct foreign investment. In recent rallies, Morsi supporters have increasingly sought to find public backing by evoking the hard economic conditions and authorities’ failure to improve people’s daily lives.

The extension of the state of emergency, which allows police wider powers of arrest, had been expected. Under the interim constitution, the state of emergency can only be imposed for three months, then must be put to a public referendum.

For most of the 30-year rule of Morsi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, Egypt was under emergency law, lifted only after Mubarak’s ouster.