The Ministry of Finance has revealed that the outstanding balances of local treasury bills and bonds amounted to about EGP 4.604trn in July 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 2.292trn, with about EGP 1.131trn for 364-day bills, about EGP 200.360bn for 273-day bills, and about EGP 517.677bn for 182-day bills, in addition to about EGP 443.514bn of 91-day bills. According to the Ministry of Finance, the maturity date for these bills extends from 1 August 2023 to 23 July 2024, taking into account that other bills with the same deadlines are re-offered on a weekly basis. This comes as the Ministry of Finance revealed that the volume of outstanding balances of treasury bonds at the end of March amounted to about EGP 2.311trn, of which about EGP 155.360bn are "zero coupon" bonds, and about EGP 22.842bn are variable-yield bonds that the Ministry of Finance has recently offered. According to the ministry, the maturity date for these bonds extends from 3 August 2023 to 18 January 2037, taking into account also that other bonds are re-bid on a weekly basis, just like the bills. 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. Figures obtained by "Daily News Egypt" revealed, earlier, the government's intention to borrow EGP 1.106trn from the local market during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023/2024, to pay previous dues for debt instruments and finance the state's general budget deficit. According to the government's plan, the Ministry of Finance aims to issue 52 bond bids worth EGP 1.074trn and 25 bond bids worth EGP 32.75bn in the period from the first of July to the end of September 2023, which reflects the government's need for liquidity in the short term. In the same context, the Ministry of Finance revealed the size of the outstanding balances of Egypt's foreign bonds until the end of July 2023. According to the ministry, there are bonds in US dollars amounting to about $32.960bn, which were offered from 11 June 2015 to 30 September 2021, and are due during the period from 21 February 2023 to 16 February 2061, and the interest rate on them ranges between 3.875% and 8.875. % with an average of 7.126%. These balances also include sukuk worth $1.5bn that were issued on 28 February 2023, and due on 28 February 2026, with a return of 10.875%. According to Finance Ministry, there are other bonds worth € 4bn, which were offered from 16 April 2018 to 11 April 2019, and are due during the period from 11 April 2025 to 11 April 2031, and the return rate on them ranges between 4.75% and 6.375%, with an average of 5.477%. In addition to that, there are other bonds in Japanese yen, amounting to about ¥60bn, equivalent to $500m. They were offered on 31 March 2022, due on 31 March 2027, and the return rate is 0.85%.
