Qatar was given 2 more days to respond to Arab demands

Qatar has been given two more days.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt have given Qatar a 48-hour extension to respond to their demands that must be met before the ongoing blockade of the country can be ended. The blockade began on June 5, with the Arab countries accusing neighboring Qatar of supporting terrorist organizations.

The blockading countries have since given Qatar >a list of 13 demands – which include the closure of Al Jazeera – that the emirate must agree to before the isolation is lifted.

Kuwait has been working as a mediator between Qatar and the four other Arab states. According to Reuters, Kuwait requested the extension and has also reportedly received a response from Qatar to the demands.

Publicly, Qatar has blasted the allegations and said it will not accept any of the demands.

"The list of demands is made to be rejected," Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said Saturday. 

"The alternative is not escalation, the alternative is parting of ways, because it is very difficult for us to maintain a collective grouping," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told reporters last week.

Saudi Arabia has made similar statements. 

"We want to see Qatar implement the promises it made a few years back with regard to its support of extremist groups, to its hostile media and interference in affairs of other countries," the kingdom's Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in early June.

Qatar's stock market has seen a downturn as a result of the crisis. Foreign exchanges around the world have also begun> refusing to buy Qatari riyals.

The Qatar riyal has fallen in comparison to the U.S. dollar and rating agencies have dropped Qatar's credit rating as the GCC dispute continues. Omar Mohammed, a financial analyst of international money transfer firm Imperial FX, told Doha News that the uncertainty of the Gulf crisis has many investors worried.