CAIRO: Egypt’s finance ministry will sell LE 3 billion ($503.8 million) in two-year bonds next week, the first domestic bonds it has offered since Egypt’s political uprising erupted on Jan. 25.
Egypt has relied on treasury bills with a maximum maturity of one year for its borrowing needs since the uprising.
The government needs to sell LE 50-55 billion in securities each month to roll over existing debt as well as meet its LE 120 billion funding target from the domestic debt market, according to a Reuters estimate.
Bankers say there is some appetite in the market for longer-terms securities as banks seek to match assets with liabilities.
The bonds will be sold at an auction on July 25 for settlement the next day, the central bank said on Monday. They will mature on July 26, 2013.
The bank sold about LE 48 billion of treasury bills in May, LE 40 billion in June and LE 25.5 billion so far in July.
