Egypt’s central bank issues LE 35.4B in T-bills, bonds Sunday

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, is set to issue LE 34.5 billion in treasury bills and bonds (T-bills and bonds) on Sunday, July 27.

The T-bills were offered in two installments, with the first valued at LE 15 billion with a 182-day term, and the second worth LE 16 billion with a 364-day term.

As for the T-bonds, LE 3.5 billion will be offered in one installment with a three-year term.

The Ministry of Finance intends to issue 28 bids for treasury bills and bonds worth LE 251 billion during July, as part of a government plan that aims to borrow LE 818 billion from the local market during the first quarter of the new fiscal year 2022/2023.

According to the government’s plan, the Ministry of Finance intends to issue 16 bids for treasury bills worth LE 211 billion, and to issue 12 bids for treasury bonds worth LE 40 billion.

The Central Bank, which undertakes this task on behalf of the government, will issue, in July, 4 bids for 91-day bills worth LE 58 billion, and LE 59 billion for 182-day bills, and 273-day bills worth 31 billion.

Meanwhile, 4 bids for 364-day bills worth LE 63 billion are scheduled to be issued.

The plan also includes offering 4 “Zero Coupon” bonds, with terms of one and a half years worth LE 29 billion, two bids worth LE 7.5 billion for three-year term, and two bids for 5-year term worth LE 2 billion.

The Ministry will also offer two bids for 7-year bonds worth LE 1 billion, and two bids for 10-year bonds worth LE 500 million.

The banks operating in the Egyptian market are the largest sectors investing in bonds and treasury bills, which the government periodically offers to cover the state’s general budget deficit.

These bonds and bills are offered through 15 banks that participate in the primary dealers system in the primary market, and these banks resell part of them in the secondary market to individual investors and local and foreign institutions.

The Ministry of Finance had revealed earlier that the volume of outstanding balances of domestic treasury bills and bonds amounted to about LE 3.830 trillion until the end of May 2022.

According to the latest report published by the ministry on its website, the volume of outstanding balances of treasury bills until the end of May amounted to about LE 1.374 trillion, while the volume of outstanding balances of treasury bonds amounted to about LE 2.455 trillion, of which about LE 217.027 billion are “Zero Coupon” bonds.