US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Egypt to act swiftly on economic reforms to secure a $4.8 billion IMF loan, saying the measures were needed to get further aid from the US Congress, an American official said.

Kerry met Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for about an hour on the sidelines of an African Union summit on Saturday, discussing Syria's civil war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, human rights in Egypt and the country's faltering economy, the official said.