Egypt expects to receive a USD1bn World Bank loan (approved Dec) once outstanding paperwork is finalised and is negotiating more aid from Saudi Arabia, International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said on 4 February. "We are just working on submitting the required documentation. It is nothing. We are normal. There is nothing (to say) about it," Nasr told Reuters in a telephone interview. "We need all the documentation, any law, any decree that we put we have to submit in English ... Decrees on subsidies, laws for the establishment of industrial zones, fiscal reforms ... I thought I would wait for parliament to ratify everything meanwhile." The World Bank told Reuters in December that the first tranche was focused on "10 prior actions for policy and institutional reforms" already implemented. The second and third tranches are linked to additional reforms the government plans. "The whole reform programme will need to be done and not just the VAT being out. We need to have executive regulation in place and be operational," said Nasr, an ex-World Bank official. Egypt was in also talks with Saudi Arabia to secure more aid, Nasr said, declining to give details. Nasr said the government was still negotiating the details of a Saudi pledge to provide Egypt with petroleum aid over five years. Egypt signed an initial three-month deal with Riyadh to meet immediate needs while talks were ongoing. "I wanted to make sure the three months are covered and to give myself time to make an even better deal for a five-year plan," she said. (Reuters)