The Ministry of Finance aims to launch 16 tenders for T-bills worth EGP 312bn and 10 tenders for bonds worth EGP 13.75bn next February, as part of a plan to borrow about EGP 1.055trn during the third quarter (3Q) of fiscal year (FY) 2022/23.
The Central Bank, which undertakes this task on behalf of the government, will issue T-bills worth EGP 53bn for 91 days, EGP 81bn for 182 days, EGP 85bn for 273 days, and EGP 93bn for 364 days.
It is also scheduled to offer “zero coupon” bonds for a year and a half, at a value of EGP 5bn, 3-year bonds at a value of EGP 8bn, 5-year bonds at a value of EGP 500m, and 7-year bonds at a value of EGP 250m.
The banks operating in the Egyptian market are the largest sectors investing in bonds and treasury bills that the government offers periodically to cover the state budget deficit.
These bonds and bills are offered through 15 banks that participate in the system of “primary dealers” in the “primary market”, and those banks resell part of them in the “secondary market”, to individual and local and foreign institutional investors.
The Ministry of Finance had revealed that the volume of outstanding balances of local treasury bills and bonds amounted to about EGP 4.3trn until the end of November 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 November amounted to about EGP 1.732trn, while the volume of outstanding balances of treasury bonds amounted to about EGP 2.568trn, of which about EGP 280.501bn were “zero coupon” bonds.
