The total outstanding balance of treasury bonds in local currency owed by the government was EGP 685.815bn by the end of December 2015.
This is besides other treasury bonds issued in US dollars in global markets, worth approximately $7.5bn, according to the Ministry of Finance.
The ministry said in a recent report exclusively published by Daily News Egypt that there are two types of bonds in Egyptian pounds. The first type is the coupon yield bond, which has a balance of EGP 620.023bn and the average rate of its yield is of 12.831%.
These bonds were introduced from 18 January 2005 to 1 December 2015, with interest rates ranges between 8.7% and 17%. According to the ministry, the balances of the second type of bond, the zero-coupon bond, is up to EGP 65.8bn with an average interest rate of 12.084%.
Those bonds were introduced for the period between 28 January 2014 and 31 December 2015 with interest rates ranging between 11.319% and 12.792%.
Outstanding balances of the coupon bonds are scheduled for repayment from January 2016 until November 2025, while those balances of the zero coupon bonds are planned to be paid from January 2015 until 2 May 2017.
The Ministry of Finance also said there are bonds worth $3bn to be repaid on 17 December 2016 with an average yield rate of 3.5%. This comes in addition to other bonds in global financial markets of $4.5bn, which will be repaid in the period between 1 July 2016 and 29 April 2040, with an average yield rate of 5.333%.
Banks working in the Egyptian market are considered the biggest investors in bonds and treasury bills, which the government issues on a regular basis to cover the state budget deficit. Those bonds and bills are issued in 15 banks, primary dealers, in the primary market. The banks then sell part of them in the secondary market to investors and local and foreign institutions.
The list of participating banks in this system includes the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, CIB, Citi Bank, HSBC-Egypt, the Misr Iran Development Bank, QNB, Crédit Agricole , Barclays-Egypt, Alexandria Intesa Sanpaolo, the Arab African International Bank, the Export Development Bank of Egypt, Suez Canal Bank, and the Arab Bank-Egypt.
