The Ministry of Finance aims to raise EGP 459.5bn in March by issuing 26 T-bills and bond tenders, comprising 16 T-bill tenders worth EGP 440bn and 10 bond tenders worth EGP 19.5bn.
This is part of the government’s plan to borrow EGP 1.647trn from the domestic market in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023/2024, to repay maturing debts and finance the budget deficit.
The Central Bank, acting on behalf of the government, will offer 4 tenders each for 91-day, 182-day, 273-day, and 364-day treasury bills, with values of EGP 100bn, EGP 120bn, EGP 100bn, and EGP 120bn respectively.
The Central Bank will also offer two zero-coupon bonds tenders for 728 days worth EGP 4bn, four fixed-rate bonds tenders for 3 years worth EGP 11bn, two variable-rate bonds tenders for 5 years worth EGP 4bn, and two fixed-rate bonds tenders for 5 years worth EGP 500m.
The banks operating in the Egyptian market are the main investors in the treasury bills and bonds that the government issues regularly to cover the budget deficit.
These securities are issued through 15 banks that are part of the Primary Dealers system in the primary market, and these banks sell some of them in the secondary market to individual and institutional investors, both local and foreign.
The Ministry of Finance reported that the outstanding balance of local treasury bills and bonds reached about EGP 4.966trn in January 2024.
According to the latest report published by the Ministry on its website, the outstanding balance of treasury bills was about EGP 2.734trn, while the outstanding balance of treasury bonds was about EGP 2.232trn.
