The Ministry of Finance will launch 26 treasury bill (T-bill) and bond tenders during March 2023, including 16 T-bill issuances worth EGP 312bn and 10 bond issuances worth EGP 13.75bn, as part of a plan through which the government aims to borrow about EGP 1.055trn during the third quarter (3Q) in the current fiscal year 2022/23.
The Central Bank, which undertakes this task on behalf of the government, will offer in March 4 bids worth EGP 53bn for a period of 91 days, and the same amount of EGP 81bn for a period of 182 days, and 4 bids worth EGP 85bn for a period of 273 days, while 4 364-day bids are scheduled to be offered worth EGP 93bn.
It is also scheduled to offer “zero coupon” bonds for a year and a half at a value of EGP 5bn, and 3-year bonds worth EGP 8bn, including variable-yield bonds worth EGP 2bn, in addition to 5-year bonds worth EGP 500m, and 7-year bonds worth 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 recently revealed that the volume of outstanding balances of local treasury bills and bonds amounted to about EGP 4.457trn in January 2023.
According to the latest report published by the ministry on its website, the volume of outstanding balances of treasury bills amounted to about EGP 1.940trn, with about EGP 860.842bn in 364-day bills, about EGP 138.748bn in 273-day bills, and about EGP 474.867bn in 182-day bills, in addition to about EGP 466.336bn in 91-day bills.
This comes as the Ministry of Finance revealed that the volume of outstanding balances of treasury bonds at the end of September amounted to approximately EGP 2.516trn, of which about EGP 260.135bn are “zero coupon” bonds.
