A senior Central Bank of Egypt official told Al Mal that Egypt has secured preliminary agreements for the additional USD6bn in funding required by the IMF to ratify the Staff Level Agreement signed earlier in August. The official, who asked to remain anonymous, refused to provide details about the source, size and timing of these agreements though hinted that the disbursement of the IMF loan is now edging closer. We note that Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy mentioned earlier that Egypt is negotiating a USD2-3bn deposit with Saudi Arabia and is also consulting with China and Europe to source the additional funding. CBE has also received a USD1bn deposit back in August. Availing the additional funding ahead of the ratification of the agreement would provide the CBE with a large liquidity buffer of USD10-13bn leaving it in quite a comfortable position, in our view, to press ahead with planned EGP adjustment. (Al Mal, Mohamed Abu Basha)