The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) offered treasury bills worth $700m on behalf of the Ministry of Finance on Monday.
The CBE allows subscription to the bills in US dollars for local banks and foreign institutions with a minimum subscription of $100,000 and its multiples.
According to the CBE, these bills are being offered to pay old bills that were offered on 16 June 2015 at a value of $728.5m. The CBE explained that the new bills are presented for 360 days and will be due on 13 June 2017.
The CBE started to offer US dollar treasury bills on 30 November 2011, where the average interest rate on these bills in the first auction amounted to 3.87%.
On 10 May 2016, the CBE put forward a tender worth $1.25bn and received subscriptions worth $1.512bn.
The CBE accepted $1.267bn of liquidity offered with an interest rate of 3.54%-3.59% and an average of 3.58%.
The interest rate on the US dollar bills is decided by a number of factors, but most prominently the volume of US dollar liquidity in the market, the alternative investment opportunities available for local and foreign financial institutions that invest in these bills, and the country’s credit rating.
The CBE allows local banks and foreign institutions to subscribe for the US dollar bills with a minimum of $100,000 and its multiples.
Banks operating in the local market rely on these bills to invest their liquidity in US dollars safely with the government, with an appropriate yield, in light of the lack of other investments for such liquidity. Exceptions include rare syndicated loans or investment in global capital markets, with low yield and high risk.
