Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Tuesday that Egypt has mustered 60% of the USD6bn required bilateral support to unlock the USD12bn IMF loan. The funding is essential before Egypt could submit a formal request for approval to the IMF board. Previously, IMF officials said that they had held discussions on bilateral financing for Egypt with Saudi Arabia, China, and G7 countries. We note that the announced received funding included USD1bn from the UAE and USD2bn from Saudi Arabia and suggests that there is another USD0.6bn received but unannounced. China said in September it was discussing a USD2bn currency swap with Egypt. (Reuters, Mohamed Abu Basha)